A convention in July 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, sparked a 72-year-long, persistent national movement.
Various women donned white dresses wearing sashes of purple and green — and later on purple and gold — marching for American women’s right to vote.
Landmark women of the Women’s Suffrage Movement included Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Ida B. Wells, but many others contributed, including the lineage of Ball State University’s founding family.
In Indiana, Elizabeth Ball (Brady), Emma Ball (Wood), Frances Ball (Woodworth), Sarah Ball (Rogers) and Bertha Ball (Crosley) played influential roles, from quiet financial support to hosting meetings and representing the movement at the state level.
Throughout Indiana and Delaware County, suffragists were a diverse group; men, people of color and people of different socioeconomic classes joined the cause, not just wealthy white women, said Melissa Gentry, Paul W. Stout Map Collection supervisor at Ball State University Libraries and member of the board of directors of the Delaware County Historical Society.
According to Gentry, one of the first women to register to vote in the 1917 special elections in Muncie was illiterate and used an “X” as her signature to register.
Jessica Jenkins, former Minnetrista Museum and Gardens archivist and current executive director of the Litchfield Historical Society in Litchfield, Connecticut, studied the Ball family's involvement in the Suffrage Movement.
The Woman’s Franchise League (WFL) of Indiana, founded in 1911, connected state, county and local suffrage efforts with the Ball women active in Muncie’s chapter.
In these organizations, “white women of wealth and high social standings tended to find themselves in leadership positions, but the membership of state, county and local organizations was multicolored and diverse in terms of social class and economics,” Jenkins said via email.
Emma helped organize Muncie’s WFL convention in 1912 and served as vice president. She advocated for laws protecting women and children, reflecting the broader motivation for suffrage: influencing legislation on labor, poverty, education and healthcare, Gentry said via email.
“This is why many prominent women in the community supported women’s suffrage,” Gentry said. “They believed that women voters would influence legislation on behalf of children, like child labor laws and poverty, education, healthcare and aid programs for women and children.”
In the starting years of the franchise league, many members hosted private meetings in their homes, since not every member’s spouse approved of the movement.
Emma, Sarah and Elizabeth all hosted meetings and held various positions on the board of directors for the organization, while also being a part of various committees for the organization.
In 1912, Emma and William C. Ball hosted a pep rally at their Maplewood home. At this rally, the women discussed educational reform, child labor laws and temperance — abstaining from alcohol.
They also hosted a meeting in 1913 where their son William H. Ball entertained guests with musical numbers.
Portrait of Emma Ball, a suffragist and the wife of Ball brother, William. Emma helped organize Muncie’s Woman's Franchise League convention in 1912. Minnetrista, Photo Provided
Elizabeth gained permission to host meetings at her church, St. John's Universalist, which helped provide stability for the organization.
When the Indiana Legislature temporarily passed a bill for women's suffrage in local municipal elections in 1917, Elizabeth held civic and voting issues classes in the church. She invited other local franchise leagues, including at least two African American franchise leagues, Gentry said.
In addition to her church meetings, she hosted a garden party in June 1918 which over 300 women attended in honor of the Muncie Central High School (MCHS) graduating classes of 1868 and 1869.
Bertha hosted a party at her home, Nebosham — known today as the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center — for league members to hear Ida Husted Harper, a national suffragist leader and MCHS 1868 graduate, who presented the commencement speech at MCHS.
That same summer, Bertha also hosted a luncheon for franchise league members and Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected into the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916, when Rankin was invited to speak at Muncie's July Fourth celebration.
Jenkins cited that these meetings were open to suffrage membership, which was socioeconomically diverse, meaning one's social status didn't gain or block entry into these meetings.
Beyond hosting, the Ball family provided various financial support to the movement.
Sarah's husband, Dr. Lucius L. Ball joined the league as a founding member as well as offering financial support to the suffrage movement.
Frances, like her sisters-in-laws, was a member of the WFL of Muncie, but she took on a more quiet form of support, supplying crucial monetary support to the state level suffrage near the time of the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
She was “a major contributor to this specific financial campaign at the moment that it really counted,” Jenkins said.
Their various forms of support helped the suffrage movement beyond the direct impacts.
According to Gentry, in the early stages of the suffrage movement, most Americans viewed suffragists as radicals. When prominent women, like the Ball women, showed their support, it helped persuade men and other women to join the cause.
The Balls believed in women's suffrage because they believed it would help the Muncie community through labor reform, education and health improvements.
Susan Smith, Minnetrista Museum and Gardens archivist, said the Ball family valued education, especially higher education, along with serving their community. These values empowered the family to impact the community, such as their involvement in the suffrage movement.
“[The Ball family] contributed a lot to this community and other wealthy families who could have stepped up didn't necessarily, so when they saw an opportunity, they did,” Smith said. “They did what they could, and other people could have done the same. The opportunities were there.”
Beyond womens’ rights, the Ball women left a lasting legacy in Muncie. The women were involved in various organizations, varying from the arts to health, so their involvement with the suffrage movement was just one of many ways the Ball women were serving their community.
Though their time with the WFL of Muncie is over, the impact of the organization is still going strong since its transition into the League of Women Voters after the 19th Amendment was ratified.
“It's important to remember that women were not given the right to vote,” Gentry said. “Women and men battled for the suffrage cause and the people of Muncie were actively involved in making history and still are today.”
Contact Hannah Amos via email at hannah.amos@bsu.edu or on X @Hannah_Amos_394.
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