Topic: Carrie Chapman Catt

Carrie Chapman Catt (],1859 – March 9, 1947) was a woman's suffrage leader. She was elected president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) twice; her first term was from 1900 to 1904 and her second term was from 1915 to 1920. Her second term coincided with the climax of the woman suffrage movement in the U.S., and culminated in the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. NAWSA was by far the largest organization working for woman suffrage in the U.S.

Carrie was born in Mitchell, South Dakota, she spent her childhood in Charles City, Iowa and graduated from Iowa State College, later called Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. She became a teacher and then superintendent of schools in Mason City, Iowa in 1885.

In 1885 Carrie married newspaper editor Leo Chapman, but he died in California soon after. Eventually she landed on her feet but only after some harrowing experiences in the male working world. In 1890, she married George Catt, a wealthy engineer. Their marriage allowed her to spend a good part of each year on the road campaigning for woman's suffrage, a cause she had become involved with in Iowa during the late 1880s. Catt also joined the Women's Christian Temperance Union.