Pattie Ruffner Jacobs (sometimes Patti, Patty, or Mrs. Solon Harold Jacobs) was an American women's suffragist from Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham (ˈbɝmɪŋhæm is the largest City in the US state of Alabama and is the County seat of Jefferson County.
Pattie Ruffner was born in 1875 in West Virginia. Year 1875 ( MDCCCLXXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common West Virginia ( is a state in the Appalachian Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by She was educated at Ward's Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, but was unable to continue her studies during the economic crisis of the 1890s. The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 Her parents' marriage dissolved in that period and Pattie moved with her mother to Birmingham to stay with an older sister's family.
Ruffner married Birmingham businessman Solon Jacobs and took advantage of his means to travel and to enroll in voice classes in New York City. The City of New York Over time, she became more politically active in the swirl of Progressivism which was reshaping Birmingham as a New South city of industry. In US history the term Progressivism refers to a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century New South or New South Creed is a phrase that has been used intermittently since the American Civil War to describe the American South, in whole or in part She joined the fight against child labor, convict leasing, and prostitution which were all endemic in the Birmingham District. Child labor is the employment of Children at regular and sustained labour Convict leasing was a system of Penal labour instituted in the American South after the emancipation of slaves by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Prostitution is the act of performing Sexual activity in exchange for Money. The Birmingham District refers to a geological area in the vicinity of Birmingham Alabama where the raw materials for making Steel, Limestone She was an active member of the Salvation Army and the Jefferson County Anti-Tuberculosis Association. The Salvation Army is a Christian charity and church that is internally organised like a military service. Jefferson County is the most densely populated County in the U Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common Her increasing national standing led to her participation in the campaign for the sale of Liberty Bonds during World War I. A Liberty Bond was a special type of War bond that was sold in the United States to support the allied cause in World War I. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All
It was after several failed efforts toward improving public schools that Jacobs concluded that women's suffrage was necessary in order to achieve social reforms through the political process. She founded the Birmingham Equal Suffrace Association in 1910, followed by the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association a year later. In 1913, Jacobs spoke on behalf of Southern women's suffragists at the Annual Convention of the National Woman's Suffrage Association in Washington D. C.. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA was formed on May 15, 1869 in New York in response to a split in the American Equal Rights Association over Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D
She and her colleagues nearly succeeded in putting a statewide suffrage referendum on the ballot in 1915, but opponents played up fears that giving women the vote would increase the political power of African Americans. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa The AESA then turned its efforts toward promoting a national suffrage amendment.
Jacobs was elected as an officer in the National Equal Suffrage Association in 1915. After the passage of the 19th Amendment, Jacobs led the transition of her local organizations into Leagues of Women Voters. The Nineteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution prohibits each of the states and the federal government from She also became national secretary for the National League of Women Voters. The League of Female Voters is an American political Organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National
Jacobs led efforts toward other socially-progressive laws as well, such as a failed attempt to establish an 8-hour work day. Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt recognized her leadership with appointments to various commissions, such as the Consumer Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration and as a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10 1874 &ndash October 20 1964 was the thirty-first President of the United States (1929–1933 National Recovery Administration (NRA created in the United States of America under the 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act, was one of the New Deal The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA is a federally owned Corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide In 1933 she was the first woman appointed to the Democratic National Committee from Alabama, a position she held until her death two years later. The Democratic National Committee (DNC is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis Alabama (formally the State of Alabama;) is a State located in the southern region of the United States of America.
Jacobs is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham. Elmwood Cemetery is a 412- Acre (167-hectare Cemetery established in the 1880s (as Elm Leaf Cemetery on the western side of Birmingham in Jefferson