The Disenfranchised Daughters of Seattle
Stripped of their right to vote by a Supreme Court ruling, the women of Seattle gather in a defiant, fractious meeting to organize against the 'fossils' of the law.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Pursuant to widely published notices issued by Mrs. Nattie Wood, Mrs. Kenworthy, Laura E. Hall and many others, the ladies met in the hall of the Opera House at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Shortly after 3 o'clock, Mrs. Kenworthy said: 'Ladies, we have been born to take steps to resist the edicts of the Supreme Court in taking from us the ballot. We do not wish to do anything to injure or dishonor, but to do what is necessary to facilitate getting back our rights.' On motion of Laura E. Hall, Mrs. Nattie Wood was elected President. 'We are stripped of our rights and our liberties,' Mrs. Wood declared, 'and reduced to an equality with the squalid savage and the hostile Chinese. We have got to take steps to regain our rights.' The meeting, while united in purpose, revealed sharp internal divisions between the W.C.T.U. wing and the more militant Liberal League faction. Laura E. Hall, particularly, pushed for an 'indignation meeting' to show their resolve. Despite the tension, the group unanimously voted to circulate a petition to Congress, with thirty-six signatures obtained on the spot, to validate the laws the Supreme Court had struck down, asserting that the right to vote is the 'right of humanity' itself.
In 1887, Seattle women were fighting to reclaim the vote after a judicial ruling—a stark reminder that voting rights, once granted, can be systematically dismantled. This local political battle mirrors today's ongoing struggles over suffrage, civic representation, and the vulnerability of democratic gains in the face of conservative judicial intervention.
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