The women's suffrage movement touched all corners of the United States and Indiana was no
exception. Hoosier women were involved from its beginning. In 1851, just three years after Seneca
Falls, women in Dublin, Indiana formed the Indiana Woman’s Rights Association and in 1859,
Hoosier suffragists submitted the first women’s suffrage petition to the Indiana Legislature.

Over the next several decades, Hoosier women organized. They formed local and statewide
suffrage groups, submitted petitions to the state legislature for equal suffrage, lobbied state and
federal politicians for support, and held parades and protests in an attempt to gain suffrage.

In 1917, they almost succeeded. The Indiana General Assembly passed three laws, including
amending the state constitution to allow women’s suffrage and granting Hoosier women the right
to vote in certain elections. However, anti-suffragists successfully challenged these laws and the
legislature declared the partial suffrage granted to women unconstitutional.

Black Hoosier women were early activists in the women’s suffrage movement and the first
women registered to vote in Indiana. Though some joined predominantly white suffrage
groups, Black women typically formed their own chapters.

In 1912, Black suffragists formed Indianapolis’ first Black-led chapter of the Equal Suffrage
Association at Madame CJ Walker’s home and elected Carrie Barnes Ross as their first president.
Black women also formed their own chapters in the Woman’s Franchise League, the largest
suffrage organization in Indiana. In 1917, during the brief period when women could register
to vote in Indiana, two African American women in Columbus became the first Hoosier women
to register before the partial suffrage laws were declared unconstitutional.

Paulina Merritt settled in Indianapolis in 1852 and was an early and ardent supporter of
women’s enfranchisement. Merritt attended women’s suffrage events and meetings in
Indianapolis, lobbied state senators and house representatives for their support,
and spoke at men’s clubs across Indiana on the importance of women’s suffrage.

While in Indianapolis, Merritt served on the Legislative Committee for the Local Council of
Women alongside internationally recognized women’s rights advocate, May Wright Sewall.
Sewall likewise started her suffrage career in Indianapolis where she founded numerous local
and state suffrage organizations. She later served on the National Council of Women, the
World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago,
and co-founded the International Council of Women alongside Susan B. Anthony and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Hoosier suffragists also set firsts for women in Indiana. Lafayette resident Helen Gougar
was a writer, lecturer, lawyer, and suffragist. She also served as president of the Indiana
National Woman Suffrage Association. After her ballot was denied in the 1894 municipal
election, Gougar sued the Tippecanoe County Election Board. She argued her case for
The constitutional rights of the women of Indiana, first in front of county court in 1895
and then in the Indiana Supreme Court in 1897, becoming the first woman to argue
in front of the Indiana Supreme Court. Gougar ultimately lost the case, but newspapers
across Indiana reported on her case, gaining her and her argument statewide
recognition.