William Barret Travis' 1836 Letter from the Alamo is read by Texas Governor Rick Perry
"Handicapped" suffrage document is read by former First Lady Laura Bush
Sam Houston letter to Andrew Jackson is read by U.S. Senator John Cornyn
Voices of Texas History
1919 broadside entitled "Handicapped," which appeals for support for women's suffrage
Read by former First Lady Laura Bush in December 2009
About the document
In 1919, the male voters of Texas went to the polls to determine the fate of women's suffrage in Texas. Suffragists mounted a massive campaign to pass the proposed constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote, holding mass meetings, circulating petitions, going door-to-door, and circulating more than 300,000 pieces of literature, including this broadside entitled "Handicapped."
About Laura Bush
Laura Bush, a native of Midland, was First Lady of Texas from 1995-2000, and First Lady of the United States from 2001-2009. A former teacher and librarian, she has long focused on promoting the causes of literacy, education, and women's health.
“Handicapped,” 1919.
Broadside, Erminia Thompson Folsom Collection, Box 1985/119-2.
TRANSCRIPT
A person without a vote is handicapped becuase voters choose representatives to make laws for them.
Voteless persons cannot choose representatives to make laws for them.
Women without votes are handicapped before law and politically.
The vote is a modern labor-saving device like the telephone, the typewriter, the electric light, the trolley. If you don't have these modern advantages you are handicapped. So are women without a vote.
The voting class can make a mighty demand through their chosen representatives, while the voteless woman humbly presents a petition.
The vote is an instrument for getting the kind of government that you want.
The vote is a weapon; without it, woman is defenseless, exploited, handicapped.
Men found they needed the vote and they got it.
Women find they need the vote and are trying to get it.
Women are asking you to give them the vote.
WILL YOU REMOVE THEIR HANDICAP?
Vote and work for the Suffrage Amendment May 24
TEXAS EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION