National American Women Suffrage Association, 1890 NWSA

The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed in 1890 from two rival women’s suffrage organizations to advance the rights of American women and fight for their right to vote. The two organizations – the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) – merged after the US Senate rejected the first bill granting women’s suffrage in 1887. With their pooled resources, the NAWSA grew from a group of 7,000 women to over 2 million, and it is credited with ensuring the eventual passage of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote. This committee will start with the founding of the NAWSA in 1890 and will utilize both traditional general assembly and crisis elements to follow this movement. Delegates will be tasked with successfully writing a new organizing plan for the NAWSA in order to pass the 19th Amendment. They will then be asked to implement this organizing plan and work together and individually to solve the challenges that arise. Should the delegates succeed in passing the 19th Amendment through the US Congress, the committee will revert to re-defining the organization once its founding principle has been achieved. Through this committee, delegates will debate topics relating to feminism and learn about how to successfully build a movement to advance a very important social cause. Put on your suffrage sashes, feminists, because it’s time to demand a vote!

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