1. Virginia Louisa Minor was an American women's suffrage activist in Missouri.
17 Facts About Virginia Minor
1. 2.
Virginia Minor is best remembered as the plaintiff in Minor v Happersett, an 1875 United States Supreme Court case in which Minor unsuccessfully argued that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote.
3.
Virginia Minor married her distant cousin Francis Virginia Minor in 1843; they settled in St Louis in 1844.
4.
Virginia Minor got pregnant and had her first child in 1852; who was only 14 years old when he died from a bullet in 1866.
5.
In 1867, Virginia Minor co-founded and became the first president of the Woman's Suffrage Association of Missouri.
6.
Virginia Minor personally sided with the National Woman's Suffrage Association, prompting her resignation as President of the Missouri Association.
7.
On October 15,1872, Virginia Minor attempted to register to vote in St Louis.
8.
When election registrar Reese Happersett turned her down, Virginia Minor filed suit in the Missouri state courts.
9.
The trustee was to hold the property in trust only until such time as Virginia Minor determined to "sell, mortgage, devise, bequeath or otherwise dispose of the same or any part thereof at her will and pleasure".
10.
Virginia Minor was further empowered to "at any time revoke the power of the old and appoint a new trustee".
11.
Virginia Minor testified in support of women's suffrage before the United States Senate in 1889.
12.
Virginia Minor was chosen to serve as the organization's president once more after the two associations were unified in 1890.
13.
Virginia Minor remained in this role until 1892, when her poor health compelled her to resign.
14.
Virginia Minor died on August 14,1894, two years later, and was laid to rest at St Louis' Bellefontaine Cemetery.
15.
In December 2013 Virginia Minor was announced as an inductee to the Hall of Famous Missourians.
16.
Virginia Minor was named an honoree of the National Women's History Alliance in 2020.
17.
Virginia Minor is recognized as the first person to publicly advocate for women's suffrage in her state.