National and International Ties

Louisiana Women’s Collection: A History of Political Activism



While suffrage organizations in Louisiana functioned at the local level, most served as auxiliaries to the national organization NAWSA (National American Woman Suffrage Association). It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the NWSA (National Woman Suffrage Association) and the AWSA (American Woman Suffrage Organization). The NAWSA played a crucial part in the passing of the Nineteenth Ammendment in 1920 which granted white American women the right to vote. Groups also worked to stay in touch with advocacy work outside their local communities, bringing in prominent activists to speak to their groups and sending their own representatives to speak to other groups.

The suffragists also kept their finger on the pulse of national affairs, promoting the World War I war effort, keeping track of suffrage’s progress on the national level, and justifying suffrage by using the rhetoric of national figures. Louisiana suffrage organizing even had an international dimension, evidenced by their work with suffragist groups globally.