University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Honors Theses Student Research Spring 1999 Adele Clark : suffragist and women's rights pioneer for Virginia Amanda Garrett Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.edu/honors-theses Recommended Citation Garrett, Amanda, "Adele Clark : suffragist and women's rights pioneer for Virginia" (1999). This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact scholarshiprepository@richmond.
ADELE CLARK: SUFFRAGIST AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS PIONEER FOR VIRGINIA AN HONORS THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND BY AMANDA GARRETT RICHMOND, VIRGINIA APRIL 1999 ABSTRACT This study chronicles the life of Adele Clark, a political activist, writer, civic educator and artist. Over the span of her one hundred year life (September 27, 1882-June 4, 1983) her passion for improving society led her to campaign for suffrage for women, the rights of children, and increased opportunities for all mankind. In addition, Adele Clark's personality is explored to reveal what she was like as an individual and to explain the reasons behind her actions, which were a force for change. This work is based heavily on research in the Adele Clark Papers, which are housed at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Adele Clark ERA Equal Rights Amendment ESLV Equal Suffrage League of Virginia n. No Date NLWV National League of Women Voters NWP National Woman's Party v. Virginia Commonwealth University VLWV Virginia League of Women Voters In 1870, women in the Commonwealth of Virginia began organizing a campaign for the right to vote when Anna Whitehead launched the Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association. As the group's president from 1870 to 1872, Whitehead tried unsuccessfully to win public support for woman suffrage.
She wrote articles for the local press, invited national suffrage leaders to speak in Richmond, and attempted without success to vote in the November 1871 municipal election. Despite her efforts, the movement gained few followers. Journalist Orra Gray, a native of Lynchburg, Virginia, was likewise disappointed in her attempts to awaken the suffrage spirit twenty years later in the 1890s. 1 Far more significant was the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, formed in 1909 by a small group of Richmond activists.
Adele Clark, a Richmond artist, was one of the founders of this organization. Who is Adele Clark one may ask? What impact could this largely unknown suffragist possibly have exercised? She is never mentioned in standard American history or political science textbooks as a "suffrage crusader." This study is an attempt to "remove the shroud of mystery" surrounding Adele Clark. What impact Adele Clark had on the woman suffrage movement through her work in the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, the mark she left on Virginia, and a little bit about her personality will be explored in hopes of showing that local and state leaders played key roles in the eventual success of the suffrage movement. Adele Clark was born September 27, 1882 in Montgomery, Alabama, the second of three children.
Her father, Robert Clark, worked for the railroad. In pursuing this career, Robert relocated at least five times, accepting positions with several different 1 "From Municipal Housekeeping to Political Equality: The Virginia Suffrage Movement, 1870-1920," pamphlet, The Library of Virginia, 1995. 2 railroads as the industry expanded across the country. Each time Clark moved, he took his family with him.
Therefore, Adele lived in several cities before the family pennanently moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1894. Adele's mother, Estelle Goodman 2 Clark, supplemented the family income by teaching music. Soon after this final relocation, disaster struck the Clark family. Adele's father had a stroke that left him partially paralyzed, in ill health and unable to work.
Edward Goodman, Adele's uncle, assumed responsibility for the family. He paid for Robert's medical bills and made sure Adele and her two sisters received a quality education. Adele graduated from Miss Virginia Randolph Ellett's school (now St. After graduation, she began working as a stenographer at the Richmond Chamber of Commerce for seven dollars a week to earn money for art lessons.
3 Early in her childhood, Adele exhibited talent in the field of art and her parents encouraged her to develop this ability. Adele's persistence paid off in the form of a scholarship to the Chase School of Art in New York in 1906. Her work focused on depicting urban people in an urban environment. 4 Adele finished her studies and returned to Richmond in early 1908.
She began teaching and painting at the Art Club of Richmond, the Society for Crippled Children, and the Adult Recreation Center for the Richmond Department of Parks and Recreation, occasionally supplementing her income by doing clerical work. 5 In 1917, the Richmond Art Club unexpectedly closed its doors, 2 "Adele Clark Cast a Long Shadow," Richmond Times Di!>patch, 12 June 1983.) Papers, Virginia Commonwealth University (V. 4 "Adele Clark Cast a Long Shadow," Richmond Times Di!>patch, 12 June 1983. 3 but Adele and a close friend named Nora Houston, opened an art school in Richmond on Linden Row several months later.
6 Her philosophy of art was clear. Adele stated that: The miist is a vital and integral part of society; the artist's craft should reflect the totality of the human condition, both good and bad. Moreover, the best and only way to achieve these goals is through total involvement and pmiicipation, by the artist, in her or his society, in life. The artist who works only for self and keeps aloof from life is not likely to create anything vital.
7 Adele's passion for art led her to become an "art activist" in Richmond. In 1916, she participated in a successful lobbying campaign to create a state Art Commission8 and fought vigorously for the establishment of the Chevalier Quesnay de Beaurepaire Academy of Arts and Sciences. 9 Adele "came into a city that needed to be awakened to the joys of art, and she banged the drum until it listened." 10 Adele's art activism, coupled with her teaching, placed her in contact with important political figures and Virginia suffragists. Prior to coming into contact with these persons, Adele stated that she "hadn't thought a great deal about it [woman suffrage] before 1909." 11 These meetings were the springboard that catapulted Adele into the woman suffrage movement.
One such meeting was between Adele and two women she taught at the Art Club. Anne Fletcher and Harriette Taliaferro called Wyoming and Colorado home respectively, 6 Ibid. EAdele Clark and Nora Houston, an open letter to Virginia high schools and boarding schools, 27 May 1916, A. 9 "The Dream ofQuesnay de Beaurepaire," Richmond News leader, 26 May 1917.
10 Edmund Archer, "Nomination Form for the Richmond Arts Council Distinguished Service Award," 8 March 1979, A. 11 "Suffragist, 96, Recalls Clearly," Richmond Times Di~patch, 26 January 1979. 4 states that allowed women to vote. The two women shared their voting experiences with Adele, and perhaps this alerted her to the suffrage movement.
12 Adele's first leap into the suffrage cause was in 1909 when she signed a petition in support of a constitutional amendment for equal suffrage for women. By this time, a viable woman suffrage campaign had begun to take shape in Virginia, culminating with the establishment of the Equal Suffrage League in November 1909. 13 Two early leaders, Ellen Glasgow and Mrs. Charles Meredith addressed a meeting of the Art Club.
While the records do not show how many members attended the meeting, only four signed the suffrage petition. 14 Suffrage for women was not a popular cause in the Commonwealth at this time, and apparently some members of the Art Club resigned their memberships over the matter. Adele did not understand why so much controversy surrounded the right to vote for women. She simply stated, "I thought women ought to be allowed to vote." 15 After signing the petition, Adele became increasingly involved in the suffrage campaign, an involvement that would last for over fifty years.
16 On November 20, 1909, Adele attended a meeting where the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia was born. The members elected her recording secretary, meaning she was responsible for keeping records of all the League meetings as well as storing 12 L. Moody Sims, Jr., "Adele Clark: Painting and Politics," The Richmond Literature and History Quarterly 2, No. 13 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Ida Histed Harper, eds., The Hist01y of Woman Suffrage (New York: J.
Little and Ives Company, 1922), p. 14 Adele Clark Interview by Winston Broadfoot, 28 Febrnary 1964, Richmond, Virginia, Interview# 4007 (G-14-2), transcript, p. 2, Southern Oral History Program, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 15 Quoted in AARP News Bulletin, 24, No.
16 "Adele Clark Cast a Long Shadow," Richmond Times Di5patch, 12 June 1983. 5 17 documents and papers of the League. Adele was only one of a handful of single 18 members of the organization; most of her colleagues were maiTied to prominent men. Because of the strong anti-suffrage presence in Virginia, Adele and the other members of 19 the group attended the meetings in secret, and when the business of the day was completed, the women left at different times so as not to attract attention.
20 Despite these painstaking measures, nasty rumors spread throughout Richmond and newspaper~ printed editorials that scolded the women for being involved in such an endeavor. Many criticisms came from the mouths of the proqiinent men whose wives were members of the Equal Suffrage League ofVirginia. 21 Between 1909 and 1913, Adele Clark and the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia kept a relatively low profile. Their philosophy was to politely demand the vote as their natural right, but they also emphasized it was a tool by which they would feminize, strengthen, civilize, and improve the family, government, politics, society, even the world.
22 They recruited new members by advancing the notion that giving women the right to vote would make for "better babies, better homes, better schools. " 23 According to Adele, "The ballot will not invade the home; it will only connect the home with the 17 Yearbook of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, 1910, A.; Richmond News Leader, Suffrage Edition, 2 May 1914. 19 "Art for Man's Sake," Richmond Times Dispatch, 5 February 1943. 20 Adele Clark Interview.
22 Equal Suffrage League of Virginia (ESLV) Letter to prospective members, n. 23 "Twelve Reasons Why Mothers Should Have the Vote," ESLV broadside, 1916, A. See Appendix One for the text of the broadside. G State, tending to make a better State and better homes." 24 They advanced this message by holding small public meetings, passing out literature at State and County fairs, and by attending pro-suffrage rallies and parades in neighboring areas such as N011h Carolina and Washington D.
25 As is clear from the quoted texts, Virginia suffragists wore the "traditional banner" in their advance for the right to vote. They did not want to eliminate the conventional family; instead, they contended extending the ballot box to women would strengthen it. Based on the conservatism of Virginia, this was the only argument the suffragists could have used in order to be taken somewhat seriously. If a more "radical" approach had been undertaken, the movement would have made no gains in the Commonwealth due to the content of the message.
The year 1912 was witness to the first vote on a woman suffrage amendment to the Virginia Constitution. Delegate Hill Montague of Richmond sponsored the measure. Adele vigorously lobbied for passage of this bill. She submitted pamphlets and broadsides to the members of the Virginia House of Delegates.
She wrote numerous editorials, displayed publicly her pro-suffrage artwork and delivered speeches supporting the passage of this bill.
