S01 E02 Alabama Part 1: Bringing to Fruit the Seeds of Democracy

In the first of two episodes on Alabama, Dr. Alex Colvin, Public Programs Curator at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, talks about the the suffrage struggle up until 1920 by visiting sites along the National Votes for Women Trail.

We visit sites of the events and foot soldiers in the AL votes for women campaign:

• Susan B. Anthony’s visit to the Alabama Woman Suffrage Association in Decatur where newspapers commended Anthony for being “as good a lecturer as a good man lecturer.”
• Adella Hunt Logan was a prominent Black suffragist who was renowned nationally for her oratory and writing skills. She taught at Tuskegee University and was of African American, Cherokee, and white descent. 
• Francis Griffin was the first woman to speak to an Alabama lawmaking body in Montgomery in 1901. Even though some members tried to silence her, she advocated for a women’s suffrage provision in the new constitution.
• The Selma Equal Suffrage Association with suffragist Hattie Hooker Wilkins’ found inventive ways to spread information in Selma and statewide.
• The Alabama Equal Suffrage Association convention in February 1914 in Huntsville, where hundreds of women and men assembled to learn about suffrage.
• The “Suffrage Day” baseball game in Birmingham in 1915 where the Birmingham Barons team wore yellow sashes and local women’s teams played exhibition innings.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Alex Colvin is the Public Programs Curator at Alabama Department of Archives and History and State Coordinator for the National Votes for Women Trail. Her PhD is in early American history with a focus on Creek history at the turn of the 19th Century.

Links to People, Places, Publications

• Alabama and the 19th Amendment (here)
• Suffrage–The Alabama Story (here)
• How Women Got the Vote in Alabama (here)
• Visit the Votes for Women historical marker in Decatur (here)
• Adella Hunt Logan Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the Votes for Women historical marker in Tuskegee (here)
• Frances Griffin Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit Bicentennial Park at the Capitol in Montgomery (here)
• Hattie Hooker Wilkins Biographical Sketch (here)
• Visit the Votes for Women historical marker in Selma (here)
• “Suffrage Day” and the Birmingham Barons baseball game (here)
• Visit the Votes for Women marker at Rickwood Field in Birmingham (here)

CM Marihugh is a public history consultant and currently conducting independent research for a book on commemoration of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. She has an M.A. in Public History from State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Learn more about:

• National Votes for Women Trail (here)
• National Votes for Women Trail - William G. Pomeroy historical markers (here)
• National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (here)

Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion? Get in touch! Send an e-mail to [e-mail]