Event

"May's Vote"

A century ago, prim and proper Emma Smith DeVoe and outrageous, flamboyant May Arkwright Hutton worked side by side - but seldom eye to eye - to win the vote for women in Washington State. DeVoe, based in western Washington, was a professional suffrage organizer trained by Susan B. Anthony. She believed that in order to win the vote, it was imperative to approach men in a ladylike manner: "You have to persuade them, convince them, argue their resistance down." Hutton, rags-to-riches Spokane millionaire and ex-mining camp cook, could not have disagreed more: "No, you gotta charm the pants off 'em. You don't focus on the issue; you distract 'em from it!" May's Vote presents Emma and May from their respective childhoods through the noisy public struggle that ended with success in 1910 and demonstrates that we do not always have to agree in order to achieve a common goal.