Jars of Clay

Abstract

In the 1800s and 1890s, the Clay women -- Mary Jane Warfield Clay and her daughters Mary, Sallie, Laura, and Annie -- were the main force behind Kentucky's suffrage movement. This chapter explains why they chose to embrace a controversial cause and discusses the important ways they shaped the movement, bringing their class and racial views to bear on its development. This chapter traces the creation of the Kentucky Woman Suffrage Association and its rebirth as the Kentucky Equal Rights Association several years later when Laura Clay stepped up to be the primary suffrage leader in Kentucky.