Born: 22 November 1868, United States
Died: 26 December 1948
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Milagros Benet Colón
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Milagros Benet de Newton was a conservative women’s suffrage leader in Puerto Rico who supported voting rights for educated women. Other suffragists in Puerto Rico, especially those with ties to the labor movement, advocated universal suffrage. Through contacts with other North American suffragists and lobbying efforts in Congress, suffrage for literate women was granted by the legislature in 1929, and then universal suffrage in 1932. Puerto Ricans, however, remain unable to vote in U.S. presidential elections and are represented by a non-voting resident commissioner in Congress.