biography
| name: |
Catt, Carrie (Clinton) Chapman
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née Lane
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| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (1859–1947)
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| biography:
| Woman suffrage leader, born near Ripon, Wisconsin, USA. Raised on a farm in the frontier tradition of independence, she taught school for a year before studies at Iowa State College (1880 BA). She became principal of an Iowa high school (1881) and by 1883 was superintendent of schools in Mason City, IA. She married a newspaper editor, Les Chapman, and after he died (1886) she worked for a year on a San Francisco newspaper, then returned to Iowa and became involved in the Woman Suffrage Association. By 1890 she was a delegate to the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) convention. That year she married George Catt, a civil engineer and constructor; they lived in Seattle until 1892 then moved to New York City. He supported her goals and activities, and when he died (1905) she used the money he left her to devote herself to promoting women's right to vote. She had emerged in the 1890s as one of the most capable and convincing of the woman suffragists, and with the retirement of Susan B Anthony, she became president of NAWSA (1900–4). She returned to the presidency (1915–47) and by promoting the so-called ‘Mrs Catt's Winning Plan’ (which combined efforts at both the state level and the federal amendment) she is credited with a major role in getting the 19th Amendment adopted in 1920. Also active in promoting woman suffrage on an international level, she served as president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (1902–23). She was one of the founders of the League of Women Voters (1919) and campaigned to promote peace and disarmament. |
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