If asked which states extended the right to vote to women first, many people would likely say New York, Massachusetts, or one of the other eastern states certainly, but in reality, that wasn’t the case. Wyoming and Utah were the first to extend that right and the latter, Utah, was home to the first woman to ever cast a vote in the United States. Despite this early success, the path to suffrage for women in the West was not an easy one.

When thinking about suffragists in U.S. history, a few names will likely come to mind: certainly, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, and others, but a few lesser-known pillars in the suffrage movement actually came from Utah. 

Those familiar with Utah state history are sure to recognize the names of Sarah Granger Kimball, Zina P. Young Card, and Emmeline B. Wells. Each of these women, well acquainted with Susan B. Anthony, held places of honor and importance in the Woman Suffrage Association of Utah, a branch of the larger, National Woman Suffrage Association headed by Stanton and Anthony themselves. 

It was these women, and women like them that also contributed to the first woman to vote in the United States, Seraph Young, in 1870. Only the second state/territory to extend suffrage, Utah women were able to vote for a full 17 years before Congress passed the  Edmunds–Tucker Act, an anti-polygamy legislation that disenfranchised all women, regardless of marital status in the territory. It wasn’t until 1896, when Utah officially became a state, that women in Utah finally regained their right to vote.

That same year, Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon campaigned and was elected as the first woman to be a state senator in the United States. Despite these leaps and bounds in their own state, many women in Utah still campaigned ceaselessly to ensure that the federal government would add an amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing not only their right to vote but also extending that right to women across the country.

Of course, these few names listed here are only a small sampling of the amazing women across Utah state history that helped bring not only suffrage but equal rights, equal treatment, and inspiring stories of courage, intelligence, and persistence over nearly 180 years of history. Though represented by the few examples in this article, each of these women deserves to have their stories told and remembered. 

Utah has always held to a “pioneer spirit” and women like Emmeline B. Wells, Seraph Young, Martha Hughes Cannon, and others represent that sentiment well. They blazed trails, laying the groundwork and foundation for others to follow in their footsteps, bringing rights to their descendants that they may not have been able to enjoy themselves.

For more information on the history of Women’s Suffrage in Utah, and Women’s history in Utah in general, please visit: https://www.utahwomenshistory.org/.