Making “HERstory” in Arizona

Reprinted from the National Votes for Women Trail Newsletter Dec. 2020:

In November of 1912, Arizona made history by becoming one of only a few states in the U.S. to pass a suffrage amendment to the state constitution. It reads as follows:

The rights of the United States to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged by the state, or any political division or municipality thereof, on account of sex, and the right to register, to vote and to hold office under any law now in effect, or which may hereafter be enacted, is hereby extended to, and conferred upon males and females alike.

This new amendment provided women in Arizona the right to vote and to hold public office. Not surprisingly, women across the state were eager to exercise this new freedom and registered to vote. In 1915 the Patagonia public schoolhouse served as a voting location for many citizens including Mexican American women like Mary Kane and Amalia Valenzuela.

Only a short time later, women across the United States were given the right to right to vote with the passage and subsequent ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment on August 18, 1920.

The Patagonia Museum thanks The National Votes for Women Trail and The William G. Pomeroy Foundation for commemorating this important event.

FLASH FORWARD TO THE PRESENT DAY:

Rylee’s great-great-great-grandmother, Mary Kane, was one of the women who exercised her right to vote at the schoolhouse in 1915. Based on the smile on her face, we won’t be surprised to see Rylee do something special in her life as well.