Review of Kristin Mapel Bloomberg, “‘Striving for Equal Rights for All’: Woman Suffrage in Nebraska, 1855- 1882,” Nebraska History 90 (2009): 84-103.
By Max Cortinaz and Brian Schaefer
If you live in Hebron, Beatrice, or Omaha in Nebraska, you likely drive past historical buildings every day without even recognizing it. These towns led some of the earliest fights in the women’s suffrage movement. While most of us are aware of the national fight for women’s suffrage that occurred in the halls of Washington D.C., we are often ignorant of the roots that began the suffrage movement decades earlier inside of states and U.S. territories. As author Kristin Mapel Bloomberg explains in her article “Striving for Equal Rights for All” that states like Nebraska played a key role in the early parts of the women’s liberation movement. Bloomberg is a Professor of Women’s Studies in St. Paul, Minnesota who received her PhD from the University of Nebraska. She is recognized as an expert on the history of women in the Trans-Mississippi West, as is working on a biography of Nebraska suffragist Clara Bewick Colby.[1]
While Wyoming would end up being the first U.S. territory allowing women to vote, Nebraska was the first territory to bring together the early major leaders of the movement in a national fight. In 1856, Amelia Jenks Bloomer had the opportunity to speak to Omaha's territorial legislature about the issue. She was so persuasive that the first suffrage bill was considered and introduced into the Nebraska Territory. Unfortunately, the session ended the next day, and the bill would not go through.[2] While this first attempt did fail, the fact that the discussion was being seriously entertained at all was a huge step forward. This early wave of momentum would lay the groundwork for the next major battle in 1867. Riding on the back of Nebraska’s officially adopted statehood, 1867 proved to be a pivotal year for the movement. Leaders like Susan B. Anthony came on down to Omaha where the fight would gain national attention. Unfortunately, the social reality of the Nebraska voters would end up defeating these efforts at the ballot box in 1871. While Nebraska’s legislature was an outlier in the country, introducing suffrage bills every year, the voters simply weren’t on board with the proposals.
Although this was a significant defeat, suffragists in Nebraska stayed vigilant. The ratification of women’s right to vote in the territories of Wyoming in 1869 and Utah in 1870 gave suffragists all over the country inspiration to continue the fight. In 1881, the Nebraska suffragists took aim at Article 7 of the state’s constitution. They believed if they could change the wording by knocking out the word “male” and replacing it with the word “person” the right to vote would encompass every legal adult in the state, including women. Unfortunately, this constitutional change was overwhelmingly struck down by the Nebraska voters as well. Despite the power the Nebraska suffragists had gained in the legislature, the male voters continued to fail them. This defeat is what pushed many suffragists away from the individual state approach, electing to bring the fight to Washington D.C. instead. Forcing a change at the federal level was now their best shot.
[1]Kristin Mapel Bloomberg, “‘Striving for Equal Rights for All’: Woman Suffrage in Nebraska, 1855- 1882,” Nebraska History 90 (2009): 101.
[2] Bloomberg, “Striving for Equal Rights for All,” 87.