The following is republished with permission from WAPUSH Wednesday, part of the campaign to get a Women’s AP US History course in high schools. It was written by Hannah Cevasco.
Born: 1873, United Kingdom
Died: 1948
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
Treasurer and National Council Member for the National Woman’s Party
Edith Ainge was a longtime suffragist with the National Woman’s Party. She was born in England on September 10, 1873 and later immigrated to North America with her family. They originally landed in Quebec, Canada on May 21, 1883 but soon settled in Jamestown, NY. Edith was the oldest of eight siblings and lived her entire life in upstate New York.
Ainge was actively involved with the suffrage movement before the NWP was officially formed. She opened and chaired a suffrage chapter in Jamestown in 1914 and led the local delegation that received the suffrage torch of liberty in July 1915. Ainge was in charge of the Buffalo NWP headquarters that opened in July 1917. On several occasions, Ainge was arrested for picketing outside the White House with the NWP. She was jailed for 60 days at the Occoquan Workhouse in September 1917 and ten days in August 1918. Her subsequent arrests in January and February 1919 followed “watchfire for freedom” demonstrations in which she and others burned President Wilson’s speeches and statuettes in an urn outside the White House. Ainge was part of the NWP’s “Prison Special” tour in 1919 to drum up nationwide support for the 19th Amendment. Her commitment to the suffrage movement defined her career; she listed her occupation in the 1920 U.S. Census as “suffragist organizing” and was even called “the Betsy Ross of the National Woman’s Party” after she was photographed sewing a star onto the suffrage flag following Missouri’s ratification of the 19th Amendment. Following the adoption of the 19th Amendment, Ainge focused on the NWP’s efforts to pass the ERA. She was one of 500 delegates to the NWP convention in Washington D.C. in February 1921. The following year, she was elected treasurer of the NWP and attended the NWP conference in November 1922 and the Seneca Falls convention in July 1923 where the ERA proposed by Alice Paul was unanimously adopted. Ainge and a delegation from the NWP met with President Coolidge on November 17, 1923 to lobby for his support of the ERA. Following nationwide campaigns for ERA ratification, Ainge was one of several NWP members to give speeches on street corners in D.C. on the eve of President Coolidge’s second inauguration in March 1925 to remind him and the Republican Party of their commitment to the amendment. She again returned to D.C. in 1926 for the NWP’s “Women in Congress” meeting advocating for more women in politics. During the six year anniversary celebrations for the 19th Amendment, Ainge told the press “We want equal rights with men in every field. We favor a woman for president. At least half the cabinet should be women. We should like to have equal numbers of men and women in Congress.”
At a NWP convention in December 1929, Ainge was nominated for a two year term to the NWP’s national council. Delegates at the convention endorsed an international contract that would allow women to retain their nationality independent of their husband’s. When this proposal was overlooked at The Hague Conference in April 1930, Ainge was part of a delegation of women that urged President Hoover to withdraw U.S. representatives from the conference, which he did not do.
Ainge was one of twenty women marshals that processed behind Alva Belmont’s coffin at her funeral on February 12, 1933 in NYC. She carried a banner specifically requested by Alva which read “Failure Is Impossible.” Ainge herself passed away on October 25, 1948 at the age of 75. Her gravestone in Jamestown, NY simply reads “Suffrage Leader.”
Works cited
Ancestry.com. “1900 United States Federal Census.” Accessed July 13, 2024.
Ancestry.com. “1920 United States Federal Census.” Accessed July 13, 2024.
Ancestry.com. “Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 for Edeth Ainge.” Accessed July 13, 2024.
Buffalo Courier. “Her Ardor Leads To Imprisonment – Jamestown Young Woman, White House Picket, Under Sentence.” September 8, 1917.
Buffalo Courier. “Jail Sentences for 26 Suffs Who Defied Police.” August 16, 1918.
Cassidy, Tina. Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait?: Alice Paul, Woodrow
Wilson, and the Fight for the Right to Vote, 2019, Page 219
Chicago Daily Tribune. “Women to Urge Equal Rights on Inaugural Eve.” March 1, 1925.
Daily News. “Vanguard.” February 7, 1921.
Kirksville Daily Express. “Anniversary of Suffrage for Women – Leaders Are Confident of New Political Achievements.” August 26, 1926.
New York Tribune. “Suffragists Burn Effigy of President.” February 10, 1919.
New York Tribune. “Woman’s Party Chiefs Gather in Washington for National Rally.” November 6, 1922.
The Binghampton Press. “Suffragists Have Modern Betsy Ross.” July 18, 1919.
The Buffalo News. “Jamestown Suffragists Open Headquarters.” February 7, 1914.
The Buffalo News. “National Woman’s Party Establishes Here.” July 14, 1917.
The Buffalo Times. “Suffrage Torch in Salamanca.” July 24, 1915.
The New York Times. “Belmont Funeral To Be Held Today.” February 12, 1933.
The New York Times. “Many State Women to Attend Meeting.” February 7, 1921.
The New York Times. “Plan Equal Rights Fight: Woman’s Party Delegation Will Visit Coolidge Nov. 17.” November 5, 1923.
The New York Times. “Woman’s Party Meeting: Mrs. Belmont Completes $146,000 Gift for Headquarters.” June 23, 1922.
The New York Times. “Women Get $300,000 For Campaign Fund.” July 16, 1923.
The New York Times. “Women Open Fight For Equal Rights.” July 21, 1923.
The New York Times. “Women Protest Ban at The Hague.” April 10, 1930.
The San Francisco Examiner. “Suffragists’ Prison Train Due Friday.” February 23, 1919.
The Windsor Star. “Police Arrest Four Prominent Suffrage Workers.” January 3, 1919.