Bill Text: OR SCR204 | 2012 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commemorating centennial of woman suffrage in Oregon.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-11)
Status: (Passed) 2012-02-27 - Filed With Secretary of State. [SCR204 Detail]
Download: Oregon-2012-SCR204-Enrolled.html
76th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2012 Regular Session Enrolled Senate Concurrent Resolution 204 Sponsored by Senators ROSENBAUM, FERRIOLI; Senators ATKINSON, BATES, BEYER, BOQUIST, BURDICK, COURTNEY, DEVLIN, DINGFELDER, EDWARDS, GEORGE, GIROD, HASS, JOHNSON, KRUSE, MONNES ANDERSON, MONROE, MORSE, OLSEN, PROZANSKI, SHIELDS, STARR, STEINER HAYWARD, TELFER, VERGER, WINTERS, Representatives KOTEK, TOMEI (at the request of Oregon Women's History Consortium and Center for Women, Politics and Policy) (Presession filed.) Whereas the centennial of woman suffrage in Oregon will occur in 2012; and Whereas the movement for woman suffrage began in Salem and Albany in 1870; and Whereas organizers established the Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association in 1873; and Whereas Oregon citizens voted six times on whether women should have the right to vote, more than the citizens of any other state; and Whereas beginning in 1870 Abigail Scott Duniway took the lead in Oregon's campaign for woman suffrage, continuing her efforts for the next 42 years through constant public engagement, through the publication of { - The New Northwest - } newspaper and by serving as honorary chair of the Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association in 1912, the same year during which women secured the right to vote; and Whereas the final woman suffrage campaign in 1912 was led by many great women and men, including Viola M. Coe of the Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association, Hattie Redmond of the Colored Women's Equal Suffrage Association, Josephine Mayer Hirsch of the Portland Equal Suffrage League, Mrs. S.K. Chan of the Chinese American Equal Suffrage Society, Dr. Marie Equi of the College Equal Suffrage League, William M. 'Pike' Davis of the Men's Equal Suffrage Club of Multnomah County, Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy of the Everybody's Equal Suffrage League, Mrs. E. O. Gardner of the Stenographers' Equal Suffrage League and Grace Watt Ross, Sarah A. Evans and Elizabeth Avery Eggert of the Portland Woman's Club Campaign Committee; and Whereas woman suffrage advocates organized dozens of local suffrage associations throughout the state in 1912, including the Astoria Women's Equal Suffrage Society, the Ashland Woman's Suffrage Club, the Bend Equal Suffrage League, the Eugene Equal Suffrage League, the Medford Equal Suffrage Club, the Salem Equal Suffrage Club and the Pendleton Woman Suffrage League and Men's Auxiliary; and Whereas the members of the Oregon State Grange and the Oregon State Federation of Labor endorsed woman suffrage in 1912; and Whereas Oregon voters, on November 5, 1912, approved amending section 2, Article II of the Oregon Constitution, to read ' citizen' instead of 'white male citizen' when describing the right to vote; and Whereas not all Oregon women were considered citizens in 1912, leaving the voting status of some Native American women and first-generation Asian American women unchanged by the 1912 Enrolled Senate Concurrent Resolution 204 (SCR 204-INTRO) Page 1 amendment and leaving the right to vote for those women to be secured by federal legislation in 1924 and 1952; and Whereas woman suffrage was one of the earliest uses of Oregon's initiative and referendum process; and Whereas the 1912 amendment immediately took effect after November 5, 1912, and Oregon women voted as early as December 1912, in city elections; and Whereas Oregon women campaigned to be elected in some of these same city elections in December 1912, and in statewide offices in the next statewide election in 1914; and Whereas Marian B. Towne, a Democrat in Jackson County, and Kathryn Clarke, a Republican in Douglas County, won their respective campaigns to be elected to the 1915 Oregon Legislative Assembly, the first Legislative Assembly in which women legally could hold such office; and Whereas Oregon women have continued to claim civic equality by holding office, serving as jurors and performing other aspects of full citizenship during the years following 1912; and Whereas Oregon women participated in the national effort to amend the United States Constitution to secure voting rights for women; and Whereas such efforts resulted in the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in August 1920; and Whereas the 42-year campaign to achieve woman suffrage in Oregon is a vital part of the history of this state; now, therefore, Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon: That we, the members of the Seventy-sixth Legislative Assembly, commemorate the centennial of woman suffrage in Oregon and the efforts of the many great women and men who led the woman suffrage campaign of 1912. ---------- Adopted by Senate February 7, 2012 ---------------------------------- Robert Taylor, Secretary of Senate ---------------------------------- Peter Courtney, President of Senate Adopted by House February 20, 2012 ---------------------------------- Bruce Hanna, Speaker of House ---------------------------------- Arnie Roblan, Speaker of House Enrolled Senate Concurrent Resolution 204 (SCR 204-INTRO) Page 2