A Texas Suffragist

Book excerpt: A leader in the successful fight for woman suffrage in Texas, Jane Yelvington McCallum (1878–1957) left an absorbing written record of an exceptionally productive life. McCallum was a wife, mother, and clubwoman; unlike most, she was also a suffrage leader, lobbyist, journalist, publicist, Democratic Party worker, and secretary of state. A Texas Suffragist brings to print two of Jane McCallum’s most important unpublished diaries, which cover the period from October 1916 through December 1919. They chronicle the struggle of Texas suffragists to win the vote from the viewpoint of one of the movement’s most active participants, and provide insight into a range of progressive causes—including prohibition, honest government, and the independence and integrity of the University of Texas—that women reformers supported in the World War I era. Editor Janet G. Humphrey has supplemented McCallum’s diaries with a selection of her letters, autobiographical fragments, and sketches that help round out the story of her personal and public life through 1919.