Dallas Equal Suffrage Association

Dallas Equal Suffrage Association
AbbreviationDESA
SuccessorDallas League of Women Voters
FormationMarch 15, 1913
DissolvedOctober 1919
TypeNon governmental organization
PurposeWomen's suffrage
Officers of the Dallas Equal Suffrage League (1918)

The Dallas Equal Suffrage Association (DESA) was an organization formed in Dallas, Texas in 1913 to support the cause of women's suffrage in Texas. DESA was different from many other suffrage organizations in the United States in that it adopted a campaign which matched the social expectations of Dallas at the time.[1] Members of DESA were very aware of the risk of having women's suffrage "dismissed as 'unladylike' and generally disreputable."[2] DESA "took care to project an appropriate public image."[3] Many members used their status as mothers in order to tie together the ideas of motherhood and suffrage in the minds of voters.[4] The second president of DESA, Erwin Armstrong, also affirmed that women were not trying to be unfeminine, stating at an address at a 1914 Suffrage convention that "women are in no way trying to usurp the powers of men, or by any means striving to wrench from man the divine right to rule."[5] The organization also helped smaller, nearby towns to create their own suffrage campaigns.[6] DESA was primarily committed to securing the vote for white women, deliberately ignoring African American women in the process.[7] Their defense of ignoring black voters was justified by having a policy of working towards "only one social reform at a time."[8]

  1. ^ Enstam 2002, p. 818.
  2. ^ Enstam 2002, p. 823.
  3. ^ Enstam 2002, p. 830.
  4. ^ Enstam 2002, p. 837.
  5. ^ "Suffrage Convention Convenes at Dallas". Wichita Daily Times. April 9, 1914. Retrieved May 23, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Plan Suffrage Campaign Throughout North Texas". Wichita Daily Times. December 30, 1914. Retrieved May 23, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Enstam 2002, p. 828.
  8. ^ Enstam 2001, p. 36.