October 2, 1875
Women’s suffragist Pattie Ruffner Jacobs was born. A longtime resident of Birmingham, Jacobs founded the Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association in 1911 and the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association (AESA) in 1912. As the AESA’s first president, she became the youngest president of any state suffrage association in the nation. Jacobs later served on the board of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and, following the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, founded the state’s League of Women Voters and served on the board of the national League of Women Voters. She was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 1978.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Pattie Belle Ruffner was born in 1875 in West Virginia, and the family soon moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she lived through her early teenage years. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Birmingham Public Library Archives)
Pattie Ruffner Jacobs (1875-1935) crusaded for a woman’s right to vote during the early 20th century. She delivered speeches on suffrage across Alabama, provided cash prizes for essays on the topic and backed other suffrage-related programs. Jacobs was the first president of the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association, and later joined the board of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She also sat on the League of Women Voters’ board, worked with the Consumers’ Advisory Board, and was a spokesperson for the Tennessee Valley Authority in Alabama. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)
Solon Jacobs was the successful owner of the Birmingham Slag Company when he met and married Pattie Ruffner in 1898. His personal and financial support of his wife, which was atypical at the time, helped Pattie Ruffner Jacobs’s crusade for women’s right to vote. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)
Pattie Ruffner Jacobs, c. 1918-1921. (National Photo Company, Library of Congress, Wikipedia)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
