The Need for Equality

Were it not for determined and courageous women such as Kelley Markham, the nineteenth amendment to the United States Constitution would not exist today. Often times, the only way that a minority party can gather attention is by forcing its way into the spotlight. In the early twentieth century, a woman’s right to vote was not a national issue. It was a global issue. Sweden toyed with the idea in 1718 and as the years wore on other countries followed suit. Women were tired of not having a say in their government. On March 3, 1913, Kelley Markham organized a march that President Woodrow Wilson could not ignore.

Kelley Markham was born on May 19, 1880 to Margaret and Charley “Parkie” Markham. She was their second child. Her older brother Darwin was blind at birth. As she grew older, Kelley abandoned the possibility of romantic relationships and assumed the role of caretaker for her brother. They lived together in the home their great-grandfather built in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

Along with her father, Kelley began working for the post office in 1910. She spent several years there working as a rural free delivery carrier before earning the title Postmistress. Her job with the post office provided her with an opportunity to venture into the community and discuss her political frustrations with other women.

In 1912, Kelley went to a National American Woman Suffrage Association convention in Philadelphia as a guest of her friends Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. She met the women through her brother several years earlier. The night’s speaker was an enthusiastic woman named Alice Paul. Her tales of the imprisonment of women’s rights activists in Europe did not deter Markham, Keller, and Sullivan but instead it inspired them. Kelley made it a point to introduce herself to Alice and the women became fast friends.

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Kelley was anxious to make her voice heard. The women decided to plan a massive march in Washington DC on the day before President-elect Woodrow Wilson would assume his new post. When Kelley returned home, she immediately set about recruiting women to participate in the march. Through the aid of friends, she was able to acquire three buses to transport the marchers from Greenfield to Washington DC. On the day of the march, the buses were overflowing with eager marchers.

When Woodrow Wilson arrived in Washington DC on March 3, 1913, he was expecting an enormous crowd to welcome him. What he got was an almost deserted train station. Over 5,000 people were marching up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Treasury Building. A woman wearing a white cape led the procession on horseback. Throughout the march, several men pushed, tripped, and verbally abused the protesters while the police sat idly by and watched in amusement.

At the Treasury Building Helen Keller was scheduled to be the first speaker, but the exhausting experience was too much for her. Instead, Kelley Markham took her place. Kelley spoke about man and woman’s common struggle and the need for equality. The struggle was on.