Raising the standard of American Citizenship should be the first duty of the League of Women Voters.…Whereas, millions of women will become voters in 1920, and Whereas, the low standards of citizenship found in the present electorate clearly indicate the need of education in the principles and ideals of our government and the methods or political procedures; therefore be it Resolved: That the National League of Women Voters be urged to make Political Education for the new women voters, (but not excluding men) its first duty for 1920.…That we urge the League of Women Voters to make every effort to have the study of citizenship required in the public schools of every state beginning in the primary grades – also in the colleges and universities. (p. 905)
The Women Citizen (1920), Volume 4 No. 31 Feb 21.
The above resolution from the final convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Chicago created the impetus for the Virginia League of Women Voters, in association with the Virginia State Department of Public Welfare and the League of Virginia Municipalities, to develop The Virginia Institute of Citizenship and Government through the University of Virginia Cooperative Extension Program.
Throughout the 1920s a series of Institutes were offered in early summer at the University of Virginia. In his welcoming remarks at the 1927 Institute, Mr. George Zehmer stressed the importance of citizenship education “…at a time when there is a tendency on the part of the citizens in this and other states to become less active and apparently less interested in the problems of state and local government.…” (Preface, 1927, pp. 3-4).
At the same meeting Henry Anderson criticized the 1902 state constitution for being undemocratic, noting that its “declared purpose…was to disenfranchise colored people of this State.” He went on to argue that the nature of the requirements for voter eligibility established by the 1902 Constitution – literacy tests and poll taxes – also were used to disenfranchise many white men and women in different areas of the state: “By this means the right of self-government was taken from the people of Virginia” (p.59).
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Did You Know?
Obtuse and difficult questions often appeared on literacy tests for voter registration, as demonstrated in this 1920 example presented by Henry Anderson at the Virginia Institute of Citizenship and Government.
How many historical flags has the United States? Who discovered the Rocky Mountains and when? Name the first state to grant suffrage to women and when? What State passed the Port bill and when? What State had its boundary changed three times by the U.S. Government and what was its number when admitted? What State was the last to ratify the woman suffrage amendment? How many men between 18 and 45 years of age served in the World War from the United States? What State was originally named Albemarle? (Anderson, 1927, p. 67) |