Colorado Woman Suffrage Association

August 1877 Meeting Minutes

Corresponding Secretary and Referendum Committee Chair Alisha Washburn presented a report of the committee’s last meeting, and of her correspondence with American Woman Suffrage Association. Plans have been finalized for Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and Matilda Hindman to join our own Margaret Campbell on a barnstorming trip across Colorado. Aware of our financial struggles, the AWSA will pay the expenses for their leaders, and Margaret Campbell has offered to pay her own expenses, freeing up the CWSA money to be used for the rally in downtown Denver on October 1, the day before the referendum. Though we have met with resistance from local Denver politicians, our esteemed Governor Routt stepped in and secured the approval required for us to march down Colfax Avenue to Broadway, where local and national suffrage leaders will speak on the enfranchisement of women. Grace Trumbull, a lay member of the national organization who recently immigrated to Colorado and a new CWSA member, suggested all women marchers wear the same-color dress to show the solidarity and cohesiveness or our group. The idea was enthusiastically embraced, with a great debate ensuing on what color it should be. Black was deemed too severe; white deemed inappropriate and out of the question for women still mourning the loss of loved ones in the war. Purple was settled on as a compromise, and Miss Trumbull offered to donate purple sashes embroidered with “Votes for Women” for marchers to wear, as well.