Making a Scene for Suffrage in Connecticut: Emily Pierson and Educational Theatrics, 1910–1917

“Nothing can stop them!” exclaimed the Norwich Bulletin in 1914, after one of the automobiles on the Windham County Connecticut suffrage tour broke down and left organizers to travel from Brooklyn, Connecticut to Danielson on foot.1 Campaigners reached their destination in late evening, as a well-ordered army marching through the suburban streets. There, they staged an impromptu open-air meeting in Davis Park and attracted a diverse crowd from all across the local area.2 Residents commonly encountered organizers in non-traditional spaces like this by the early 1910s, when the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA) employed a variety of innovative methods to educate the state's people about the women's rights cause, under the direction of former English teacher Emily Miller Pierson.Emily Pierson pushed CWSA tactics in a different direction and turned the state into a prominent center for cutting-edge campaign strategies, when she took the position of chief organizer from 1910–1917. Her efforts to adapt pre-existing protest techniques and develop new ones for use in local activism contributed to the evolving suffrage struggle that intensified across the country in the final ten years before women won the right to vote. Pierson revolutionized the equal franchise movement in Connecticut through the implementation of what I term highly visible “educational theatrics” devised to teach the community about “votes for women.” Her strategy, based on the dual tactics of education and agitation, not only made a scene, but it also sent a message. Pierson received national acclaim for her approach when suffrage organizations across the United States used the educational theatrics that she designed, such as “voiceless speech” and her methods for organizing working-class women, in their local efforts to promote greater voting rights. She continued to advocate these strategies until the final years of the campaign, when the relentless opposition that she faced among local politicians and business leaders pushed her to shift support behind more militant techniques such as staging hunger strikes to inspire change.3Pierson's move to utilize new approaches to suffrage campaigns served as an extension of broader trends across the country. Many studies of woman suffrage organizing emphasize the increasingly sensational nature of activism for full access to the vote on both grassroots and national levels by the early 1900s. Michael McGerr argues that turn-of-the-century suffragists drew on antebellum pageantry and the tradition of spectacular political campaigns from the 1800s in their efforts to attract interest among the next generation. These activities urged the public to see supporters as a cohesive and powerful group. Margaret Finnegan shows how activists engaged elements of consumer culture such as contemporary advertising techniques to increase publicity for the crusade. Other scholars, such as Ellen Carol DuBois and Jessica Sewell, explore supporters’ adept use of urban areas like city sidewalks to promote their cause among ordinary Americans during this period as well.4 Most historians focus on the dramatic effects of these tactics, however, and overlook their educational value. I argue instead that activists such as Pierson employed these conscious-raising devices not only to capture attention for the local movement but also to teach people about the woman suffrage cause.5Emily Pierson's parents helped to foster her passion for education at a young age by investing in her schooling. She was born on June 25, 1881, to a wealthy couple, Margaret Allison and Andrew Nils Pierson. Her mother Margaret, a New Englander of British, Scottish, and Irish heritage, led civic and social activities within her Connecticut community where the family lived.6 Her father Andrew moved to America from Sweden in 1869 and founded an internationally respected floral business in Cromwell where residents referred to him as the “Rose King” due to his success. Upon graduation from Middletown High School, Pierson's parents sent her to prestigious Wesleyan University where she convinced them to allow her to spend a year abroad. Pierson studied philology and literature at the Sorbonne and College de France in Paris from 1902–1903. She chose to transfer to Vassar College in 1904 after returning to the United States and finished her bachelor's degree there in 1907. She then went onto graduate school and completed a master's degree at Columbia University in 1908, before attaining a two-year teaching job as head of the English Department at Bristol High School.7Pierson found herself drawn into the local movement for women's political rights by 1909, after she attended a controversial and widely publicized lecture in Hartford by the militant British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. There she met and befriended Katharine Houghton Hepburn, a Bryn Mawr graduate and young mother.8 Together, they organized the Hartford Political Equality League (HPEL) to promote “votes for women” throughout the capital city. The HPEL, later renamed the Hartford Equal Franchise League (HEFL), operated on a small scale holding meetings and distributing literature on suffrage.9 Pierson established herself as a respected organizer and gained valuable knowledge about campaign tactics through this early work.Pierson and Hepburn's small group, the HEFL, branched out to join forces with the Greenwich Equal Franchise League after a few short months, and this alliance of activists turned into a powerful force when it secured leadership in the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA) in 1910. Members elected Hepburn as President and Pierson as lead organizer, a job that Pierson held for seven years.10 The organization gathered support from all over the state through the efforts of Pierson and her co-workers. The CWSA in 1910 consisted of only about 300 participants with three organized branches in Hartford, Greenwich, and Norwich. However, it grew to over 100 local sections with 38,000 registered members by 1917.11Grassroots advocates faced well-organized adversaries because of their successes. Grace Markham of Hartford formed the Connecticut Association Opposed to Suffrage in the early twentieth century. Anti-suffrage forces worked aggressively to counter the CWSA's agenda by holding their own gatherings, showing up at government hearings, participating in debates, distributing literature, and staging demonstrations against women's enfranchisement. For example, opponents created a memorable display at the Berlin Fair in 1914, which included “a large and hideous doll,” wearing a “votes for women” sash with the nickname “Suffrage Sal.” Anti-suffragists invited onlookers to toss balls at this unsightly figure and offered a cigar as a reward to the person who could hit her directly in the face.12 In addition, Connecticut newspapers ran advertisements against woman suffrage underneath or next to printed messages from the CWSA. This anti-suffrage activism worked to keep “votes for women” unpopular among some of the state's elites throughout the equal franchise crusade. Many prosperous capitalists, industrialists, and conservative Republicans supported these anti-suffrage efforts. They challenged “votes for women” because they worried about how the cause might affect their local businesses. The CWSA advocated legislation to close down saloons and brothels, to prohibit exploitative labor practices through granting new protections for workers, and otherwise interfered with a political process long controlled by men.13Chief state organizer Emily Pierson encouraged Connecticut suffragists to move their campaign into the public sphere to challenge this opposition more directly and publicly. She pushed campaigners to refine the strategies put forth by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and then to implement them on the local level. Activists took advantage of established social events and traditional public gatherings to educate the state's people about the women's rights struggle. They attended the annual farmer's picnic in Greenwich in 1910, which focused typically on agricultural matters. The press termed it the “most important public affair of the year” and “one of the oldest institutions” in an “old and conservative community.” Eager suffragists, however, reoriented the event to focus on their cause, when they sent controversial representatives to speak, including prominent labor organizer and temperance reform advocate Ella Reeve Bloor, candidate for Connecticut Secretary of State on the Socialist ticket.14 Supporters also took advantage of holiday celebrations to educate the public about women's right to vote. In 1913, the Wallingford Equal Franchise League drove decorated autos to Fourth of July festivities where they sold ice cream and popcorn, while distributing brochures. In the summer of 1914, activists showed up in popular recreational locations to teach residents about their issue as well, such as when Pierson instructed suffragists to stop and give speeches at public beaches. There they employed a rowboat platform, created to travel along the Long Island Sound, and took to the sea to advocate full voting rights.15Several local organizations requested suffrage speakers at their community assemblies, attracting large crowds due to their reputations. Coupling these meetings with a suffrage presentation proved beneficial for both parties because it helped clubs to gather a larger audience for their events, while it allowed activists to teach groups of locals who might not ordinarily attend a women's rights presentation. The Ladies’ Aid Societies of Ledyard, Quaker Hill, Uncasville, and Waterford welcomed proponents of the vote to speak at fundraisers such as chicken-pie suppers and holiday bake sales. The press noted that the activists’ presence “enlivened” these local gatherings, especially when well-known state organizers like Emily Pierson showed up to give presentations.16Pierson diversified suffragists’ appeal by authorizing advocates to invite prominent public figures and reformers to speak at their activities. The CWSA employed the author Beatrice Forbes Robertson Hale to give an address about the woman suffrage movement in England and commissioned the former mayor of Seattle, Byron Phelps, to lecture at a New Britain rally about the success of equal franchise in suffrage states.17 The organization also secured other important political figures like Jeanette Rankin of Montana, the first woman elected to Congress, to give speeches in support of the The about presentation at in Hartford and that this the capital of a Connecticut suffragists supporters who organizers from other social and political as included labor reformers like of New who went on to as an important figure in the National The the state and the CWSA invited her to speak at the meeting that the suffrage in at a at age and about the faced by the Woman suffrage she to for the women and used to suffrage education more to the new of and She instructed Connecticut campaigners to use a variety of tactics such as like to attention to speeches in The for out the of and people in the to an on woman held meetings as as three or local at a to more They held and events during the summer campaign of 1914, an gained and CWSA members through their activities that These tactics helped to suffragists’ support by to a more diverse Pierson used meetings to the suffrage more to working-class women, in who through city on their to or gathered in spaces during like She sent state suffragists to and with to how the vote could their There CWSA members out and made right at the Activists staged open-air meetings in locations such as the in the in and the in They with through based on and Pierson these as a their own their own and their own to a of these and state politicians at a in she in Connecticut for the Pierson out that they held of for the which she served as an She that the vote women a different and valuable of She of the I referred to in Connecticut of in the next these of not to such dramatic as the New to up for suffrage in the of and Pierson on her as a teacher in an to the that her might her and working-class one for example, she to of because I a all She for her and in Connecticut they worked long and the in the Pierson and organizer a well-known and during her to attract working-class The Pierson's from English into other that She in and throughout the campaign to the CWSA's support this and state organizers helped to branches of a new the Equality League of throughout Connecticut including Hartford, and New In these working-class campaigners took an in the movement and in a in to rally politicians in of the vote in The state's included participants from and different and These met from other locations such as New and New to President about woman They gathered at the with that included from speeches and These supporters to the where a of the leaders to the to speak to him about how full access to the vote could the position of In addition, Pierson encouraged state activists to their cause to the meetings of labor and parties to a greater of among the She attended events such as the of the Connecticut State of in the of along local like of to speak at the meeting in of the state women's right to CWSA reached out to Americans by the later years of the by the of other suffrage groups across the including Political Equality Association of New which organized a of women by the The Connecticut suffrage organization sent speakers to address American residents at community events like held in meeting and local organizer, gained from the CWSA for her to the by for organizers of different and by the of CWSA organizers in gathered in New for a meeting and to a suffrage to for full political rights in the and her supporters created for the public to educate about their cause and as people as locations for in to attract support among and especially women who these In 1913, they an on in for example, it into a with meetings and year in where Pierson worked as a organizers up an in a at the of and High where they held meetings at and to diverse into political These meeting them with spaces to teach about the behind political while showing that women could a on the community allowed a greater public a into her local campaigns by the The use of automobiles and in state demonstrations revolutionized the Connecticut movement by a to women organizers into the public This helped to of suffragists as by residents to with local advocates Suffrage automobiles on country attracted attention because they throughout of Connecticut and them due to their Pierson and her supporters their with and such as and to these campaign who in decorated autos received press and the with their about the equal franchise and open-air speeches some suffragists, including Emily to within the Pierson's at the on the suffrage in Hartford, for example, made and gained the CWSA publicity in The the was Pierson who made the final for suffrage before the and in as she over the and the see She in the with her the people over of the to the with head the and of in the press as the and of the used attention to her on her controversial to attract large crowds at suffrage events and advertising for the Pierson's Emily Pierson a hit for when in the audience of when mother to Pierson mother could to a suffrage she in it to the while she her with the state in she the press that she to a in there for to vote in the next and then move to Connecticut to her The that Emily state organizer of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage by at as Pierson this she encouraged local suffragists to techniques to educate the public about the CWSA's her Connecticut suffragists used and early of in their The employed suffrage their in 1914, a of British which supporters from New to the for use in local activism by The Connecticut suffrage turned into one of the political demonstrations in the state's The it and that more women in this in at the The the of the crowd by how the sidewalks and into the a for to CWSA the crowd with that the and their that Pierson and state suffragists sent the to politicians that the people of Connecticut full voting rights for supporters a dramatic and for their cause, with who attended the There, opponents out a on the of the when they took to the and their from 100 automobiles along the to the the that they out left the sidewalks with of by the The continued among the large of local on where one a of women the of the while on the other of the the and of the suffragists’ Socialist supporters who the challenge a the the scene, of the who the from their in and when the down wearing and on which the the In these advocates the as a of suffrage support a of anti-suffrage suffrage proved a valuable teaching for the CWSA. Pierson and Connecticut suffragists a of the “votes for women” movement and The Hartford Equal sent participants with to such as and to other important figures in women's such as a for women in as as of The event included a of automobiles the of the and and in which to women greater voting the of their struggle through a variety of which the nature of the for example, an woman to more years marching with a and among a of women with and of This “a of not more and the attracted attention all along the The the and by Connecticut suffragists throughout the campaign to the that women could prominent in the public sphere that state suffragists employed as “voiceless Many of the with the of in the New campaign in 1913, Emily a CWSA organizer and this She it while in to in the local efforts to the vote there and it into the Connecticut movement as early as when activists used this educational of display in their campaign through ten a next to an large with or for onlookers as they The gained among advocates who on different levels across the as it a of and a more of public Pierson it for use in and on where the of automobiles made traditional presentation leaders the of Pierson's and her as a suffrage They invited her to her methods at the suffrage school in in of The organized by of a of by prominent campaign leaders throughout the country. The for her tactics, to teach about as as to speak about techniques that included to address The suffrage school received local press supporters Pierson's as a teacher helped to her with prominent activists like with Pierson more in year a for both the national movement and the Connecticut The of into the drew attention from the equal suffrage cause and made public to government practices more In militant suffrage the National sent to the in to the government to women the right to vote the the and controversial and to the national organizations on the state and also created local the CWSA and the Connecticut of the formed in turned especially when of the CWSA the first woman from the state to in the faced a at in along with other suffragists, and the CWSA over to support her worked as of the CWSA at this she the while on a not as an of the state CWSA public supported and her right to use her as she However, over the position on the activities led prominent members like Hepburn, and a large of the suffragists who the CWSA in 1910 to the organization with the of her Hepburn in her on I to that the of the National Association and out of This summer the National up with the in their of the suffrage which the in in of the that this the which this summer the of the continued over the CWSA's in more and leadership in the state suffrage organizations in the final years of the and other supporters of women's right to vote their the campaign by late demonstrations in and out of Connecticut in with the In with the the politicians and more aggressively in of the Members continued to and other controversial public demonstrations advocated by including in prominent public where they that included from President about them in The welcomed the to Hartford, an event in which women who served during the their in the into the CWSA a different approach under the leadership of new Katharine Members the direction of and an in the on the The organization on the of the state in Hartford for There, suffrage to to efforts and of State suffragists up to as helped with and organized to promote a as the of the to by early the organization an education campaign to teach women about their as The the vote and the on June after of by suffragists across the country. then on an campaign in the and secured of the to the legislation by the of National leaders Connecticut as a final only met other year and was not to until and to a of the state to the suffrage sent activists to Connecticut to to his during a period as or These along with that to women across the of their right to vote in the by to the state to the suffrage on by only one to the to the issue in a as across the country challenged the of the process in Members of the Connecticut met at the state in and to the it three to a Connecticut the state to support equal voting rights for women at the state and on supporters like Emily Pierson their attention on different and as the woman suffrage campaign before the of the Pierson to from women's rights the suffrage she to for a new She on graduate at Columbia University in and then took a position teaching English at University in There Pierson gained a for “a and “a woman with of her She continued to support suffrage activities during this but from a Pierson to Connecticut only to in events like state in the final years of the campaign, and her in groups such as the when she to a degree due to her interest in public by the early Pierson from University in the only woman in her with a in and her own on in She the next years as the and school Pierson helped to important local including in the and She other beneficial community as such as as of the for the took an interest in and befriended during this period as She in the different including the and where she studied and educational Pierson also attended at the of in and later for Hartford newspapers on like She throughout Connecticut on three to and during the She continued to an in the of her floral Pierson throughout the final years of her and an Emily who in her community until her late when a led to her and a of led to her on at age attention in contemporary suffrage she over the struggle for women's political rights in Her and her with the state's people made her one of the local activists during the early twentieth century. Pierson's of tactics as as her in suffrage campaigns helped to the grassroots movement for women's in new by the early twentieth century. Her educational theatrics what she by the nature of the equal franchise campaign and teaching residents about the woman suffrage cause in new The that Connecticut women through their in suffrage activities under the of Emily Pierson for political and social through groups such as the state's League of in the years that