Born: November 22 1862, United States
Died: February 09 1942
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
Selina Seixas Solomons dedicated her life to women’s suffrage and was a key player in California granting women the right to vote in 1911, with the state’s eighth amendment passing by only a 2% margin. California became the sixth state in the United States to grant the vote to women.
In 1896, California failed to pass women’s suffrage – in part, Solomons believed, due to the number of elite suffragists who were not connecting with middle and lower-class voters. In 1910, she founded the Votes for Women Club in downtown San Francisco specifically for working class women like shop girls and clerks. At the club, meals were served and the women were educated on the suffrage movement, with lectures and forums advocating the right to vote and a reading room with literature about the suffrage movement. The clubwomen joined Solomons in canvassing amongst the working-class population.
“We had kept back our womanish tears. Now we gave free rein to our emotions in both manly and womanly fashion, with handshaking and back slapping as well as hugging and kissing one another. October 10, 1911 proved to be the greatest day in my life,” she said
In 1912, Solomons published How We Won the Vote in California: a true story of the campaign of 1911, which outlined their successful strategies, from lobbying to fundraising efforts.