After attempting and failing to include women’s right to vote in the 1868 Arkansas Constitution, Arkadelphian Miles Ledford Langley wrote a letter to Susan B. Anthony, a leader of the national suffrage movement.
He told her that not only had the convention failed “to guarantee to woman her God-given and well-earned rights of civil and political equality,” his motion, he said, was met with “ridicule, sarcasm, and insult.”
While we do not know how the famous suffragette responded to Mr. Langley, this correspondence is an early example of the decades-long partnership between many dedicated Arkansans and the national women’s suffrage movement.
For more information, visit ARvotesforwomen.com.