Dallas Equal Suffrage Association
| Abbreviation | DESA |
|---|---|
| Successor | Dallas League of Women Voters |
| Formation | March 15, 1913 |
| Extinction | October 1919 |
| Type | Non governmental organization |
| Purpose | Women's suffrage |
The Dallas Equal Suffrage Association (DESA) was an organization formed in Dallas, Texas in 1913 to support the cause of women's suffrage in Texas. DESA was different from many other suffrage organizations in the United States in that it adopted a campaign which matched the social expectations of Dallas at the time. Members of DESA were very aware of the risk of having women's suffrage "dismissed as 'unladylike' and generally disreputable." DESA "took care to project an appropriate public image." Many members used their status as mothers in order to tie together the ideas of motherhood and suffrage in the minds of voters. The second president of DESA, Erwin Armstrong, also affirmed that women were not trying to be unfeminine, stating at an address at a 1914 Suffrage convention that "women are in no way trying to usurp the powers of men, or by any means striving to wrench from man the divine right to rule." The organization also helped smaller, nearby towns to create their own suffrage campaigns. DESA was primarily committed to securing the vote for white women, deliberately ignoring African American women in the process. Their defense of ignoring black voters was justified by having a policy of working towards "only one social reform at a time."
The Dallas Equal Suffrage Association had its beginnings on March 15, 1913, when forty-three women from socially elite white families gathered in a private home. Many of the women involved were second-generation suffragists and many had been campaigners for social and health improvements.Margaret Bell Houston, published author and daughter of Sam Houston, Jr., was elected the organization's first president. The second president of DESA was wealthy widow and Mary Hardin–Baylor alumnus Erwin Armstrong, who visited New York and New Jersey in order to gather ideas about conducting successful suffragist campaigns.
DESA hosted the Texas State Women's Suffrage Convention in April 1914. Beginning in October 1913, the Dallas organization had started sponsoring annual suffrage events at each year's Texas State Fair, the most successful of which took place on October 23, 1915, when they hosted delegates from other cities. The delegates rode in an "automobile parade to the fairgrounds" and spoke to people from the platforms of their cars. On "Traveling Salesman Day", which had 112,300 recorded visitors, DESA members also convinced the day's honorees to wear a "bright yellow 'Votes for Women' badge" as they toured exhibitions at the fair. They again hosted a suffrage event in 1916 with nationally recognized suffragists such as Elizabeth Freeman of New York and Florence Cotham of Little Rock.
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