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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Maryland Suffrage News (Baltimore, Md.) 1912-1920

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About Maryland Suffrage News (Baltimore, Md.) 1912-1920

The Maryland Suffrage News weekly was founded in Baltimore in 1912 by Edith Houghton Hooker, as the voice of the Just Government League (JGL) of Maryland. The JGL was a pro-women’s suffrage organization that she founded in 1909. Hooker was the editor of the paper and Dora G. Ogle was the business manager, while Hooker and her husband, Donald R. Hooker, provided the main financial backing. Members of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) could subscribe to the national Woman’s Journal (later the Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News and Woman’s Journal) published in Boston, MA, and the Maryland Suffrage News at the same time, but the Maryland Suffrage News also was available by separate subscription. The JGL eventually affiliated with the National Woman’s Party, a group that advocated for suffrage via congressional amendment, a stance that led to its withdrawal from the NAWSA.

The first issue of the Maryland Suffrage News was published on April 6, 1912. The newspaper quickly became the voice of the white women’s suffrage movement in Maryland, since other general circulation newspapers such as the Baltimore Sun did not always publish or pay attention to news related to the suffrage campaign. While the majority of subscribers lived in Maryland, the paper had a national reputation, with readers in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and California. The audience for the paper was primarily middle- and upper-class white women and their supporters.

Even though the JGL published the newspaper and promoted more radical political views, the Maryland Suffrage News served to build a community among various women’s suffrage interests from across the state and promote a statewide women’s suffrage movement. The Maryland Suffrage News regularly printed news and information from other suffrage organizations, such as the Maryland Women’s Suffrage League and the State Franchise League, as well as local suffrage leagues regardless of their state or national suffrage affiliations. The newspaper presented news, information, editorials, and images of the suffrage movement on the local, state, and national levels. They also included issues such as education, crime, corruption in local politics, child labor, and advocating for working-class women. The Maryland Suffrage News functioned as an educational resource for women readers and as a motivational force by providing practical tips on how to organize and debate the suffrage amendment.

When the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1920, the Maryland Suffrage News ceased publication. The Maryland Suffrage News had advocated for the formation of the Maryland League of Women Voters, which was organized in 1921 and soon after began to publish the Maryland Voter. Edith Houghton Hooker also became the editor of the National Woman’s Party journal, The Suffragist, beginning in 1917 and later, Equal Rights until 1934.

Provided By: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Maryland Suffrage News (Baltimore, Md.) 1912-1920

Dates of Publication

  • 1912-1920

Created / Published

  • Baltimore, Md. : Just Government League of Maryland

Headings

  • -  Women--Suffrage--United States--Newspapers
  • -  Baltimore (Md.)--Newspapers
  • -  Women--Suffrage
  • -  Maryland--Baltimore
  • -  United States
  • -  United States--Maryland--Baltimore

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1912; ceased in 1920.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 34 (Nov. 23, 1912).
  • -  Maryland women’s news (DLC) 2019251000 (OCoLC)1097680231

Medium

  • v.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn89060379

OCLC Number

  • 20738164

ISSN Number

  • 2577-1787

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Maryland Suffrage News Baltimore, Md. -1920. (Baltimore, MD), Jan. 1 1912. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn89060379/.

APA citation style:

(1912, January 1) Maryland Suffrage News Baltimore, Md. -1920. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn89060379/.

MLA citation style:

Maryland Suffrage News Baltimore, Md. -1920. (Baltimore, MD) 1 Jan. 1912. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn89060379/.