Carrie Chapman Catt

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt (January 9, 1859 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's rights activist.

Carrie was born in 1859 on a farm in Ripon, Wisconsin under the name of Carrie Clinton Lane. When she was seven years old, her family moved to Iowa. She graduated from high school and since her father refused her financial support for a college education, she began to teach. After earning enough money, she enrolled in 1877 at Iowa State Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa. Three years later she graduated with a science degree and became a principal at the high school in Mason City, Iowa for the next two years. In 1883, she was one of the first women in the United States to become superintendent of schools.

In 1885, she married Leo Chapman and began to work as assistant editor of his newspaper, the Mason City Republican. A year later, her husband died of typhoid fever and Carrie Chapman Catt went to San Francisco to work as a newspaper reporter. When she returned to Iowa in 1887, she started work as a lecturer. A short time later, she joined the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association. She soon became an active part of the movement and was appointed the director of field activities in 1889. A year later, she went to the conference of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and became one of its most ardent members.

Also in 1890, she married her second husband, George Catt, who supported her occupation as an activist of the feminist and suffrage movement. All through the 1890s the NAWSA focused on winning the vote state by state and that is why many state campaigns took place. Carrie was active in these campaigns, and her writing, oratorical and organizational skills proved to be useful. She eventually became known as one of the principle suffragists, along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Carrie Chapmann Catt became chair of NAWSA's National Organization Committee from 1895 to 1900. This position enabled her to exert considerable influence.

In 1900, at the gathering of the NAWSA, Susan B. Anthony resigned from her post and gave her blessing to Chapmann Catt. Thus, she was elected president of the NAWSA. She held the position as president from 1900 to 1904 and then again from 1916 to 1920. Chapman Catt, like Stanton and Anthony, wanted to establish an international suffrage movement. In 1902, the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), was created. Chapman Catt was a leading initiator and also the first president in 1904.

Because of her shaky health she decided to retire from her presidency of the NAWSA in 1904. Carrie also suffered a personal loss, when in 1905 her husband unexpectedly died. After her husband's death, she suffered from depression, but eventually recovered.

Catt started to work on her international suffrage work again. Because she no longer needed to earn a living, her husband left her a considerable amount of money, she invested even more time into the women's enfranchisement movement on an international level. In April 1913, she attended the International Woman Suffrage Congress in Budapest. After Anna Howard Shaw retired as president of the NAWSA in 1915, Carrie Chapman Catt was asked to take over the position once again. At first she refused the offer but was urged by many to accept — she finally did.

The next year she devoted her time to travelling the country and counselling with many suffragists all over the United States. Finally at the NAWSA conference in 1916 she presented the (so-called) "Winning Plan," which was a strategy to win the vote through a united effort at both federal and state level. One of the main points of this plan was the winning of one of the southern states, known to be opposed to the woman suffrage movement. Some midwestern states, as well as New York and Maine were also necessary to win in order to break the anti-suffrage bloc. When this was achieved, she thought, it would put enough pressure on the state legislature to pass the amendment that had already been presented by Susan B. Anthony. As it turned out, the amendment was ratified four years later.

After the women's enfranchisement was accomplished Carrie Chapman Catt devoted herself to the education and organization of women in order to form them into independent and politically informed citizens. For this reason she founded the League of Women Voters. Furthermore, she was interested in world peace. She became involved in the League of Nations and also campaigned for the Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928.

In March 1947, Carrie Chapmann Catt died. She was known as a pragmatic leader of the suffrage movement, a talent that enabled her to fulfil the demands of the different positions she held during her life. She was a charismatic orator and her ability to bring together thousands of women and her administrative skills made her one of the most influential leaders of the suffrage movement.

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