Date of Award
10-11-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Kristen Dutcher-Mann
Abstract
Florence Brown Cotnam was a suffragist, war worker, clubwoman, one-time congressional candidate, and an active member of the Democratic Party. She entered the Women’s Suffrage Movement when nothing got done, especially in the American South that opposed equal suffrage on racial and social grounds. The Arkansas General Assembly stalled legislation. Equally daunting were the anti-suffrage arguments were rampant, both in government corridors and in communities across the state. Cotnam was uniquely suited to change that. She remade the perception of a suffragist through a robust publicity campaign, linked the movement to World War I, made suffrage a patriotic issue, countered the National Women’s Party, and was a frequent instructor at suffrage schools. Few matched her speaking abilities, which made her a valuable asset to the nationwide movement. It was no small thing to deliver women’s right to vote. She was Arkansas’s greatest suffragist and much is owed to her.
Recommended Citation
Craig, Jared Barton, "Political Animal: Florence Brown Cotnam and the Arkansas Women's Suffrage Movement" (2017). Theses and Dissertations. 784.
https://research.ualr.edu/etd/784
