Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

Event, People

Location

Hartford Union Station, 1 Union Pl, Hartford, CT 06103, USA

Lat/Long

41.768823, -72.681396

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

Katharine Houghton Hepburn served as the President of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA), and helped establish trans-Atlantic ties for the women’s suffrage movement while also galvanizing support throughout Connecticut. Early in her career as an activist Hepburn co-founded the Hartford Equal Franchise League (HEFL) in 1909. Not long after she was elected President to the CWSA after the HEFL was absorbed into the larger organization. Hepburn quickly established herself as a strong leader, developing connections across the state, country, and international community fighting for women’s suffrage. In 1913 she published What Kind of Men Want Women to Vote, and Why, a compilation of quotes taken from men supporting women’s suffrage. That same year she hosted the famous British Suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst, during her visit to Connecticut. This marker commemorates the site of the location where Houghton, accompanied by around fifty other suffragists, greeted Pankhurst as she disembarked off the train on Nov. 12th. The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer reported:

When Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, the English Militant suffragette, arrived in the city from Worcester, Mass, ay 2:30, this afternoon, she was met at the railroad station by an enthusiastic gathering of local and state suffragists about 50 in number and a large company of woman not directly allied with the cause.

Pankhurst attended a number of social gatherings during her stay in Hartford, including one hosted at the home of Hepburn following her lecture at the Parson’s theatre. The speech–which would come to be known as the “Freedom or Death” speech–lasted over 90 minutes and detailed the efforts of suffragists from Great Britain using militaristic terminology. The lecture raised around $1,400, proving a galvanizing call to action amongst those in attendance.

Hepburn remained politically and socially active throughout her life, eventually joining the National Woman’s Party. Following the passage of the 19^th Amendment in 1920, Hepburn co-founded the American Birth Control League, which would eventually become Planned Parenthood. Hepburn passed away in 1951 and was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994. Her meeting with Pankhurst at the Union Station marked an important moment in trans-Atlantic women’s suffrage activism.