Tylerites advocated for women's suffrage movement With Election
Day on Tuesday, the eyes of people around the nation and the
world, for that matter, will be focused on the outcomes. But
almost a century ago, the women of this nation were fighting for
a say in the affairs of their world be it who should be
president, working wages and hours, alcohol issues or
educational ones. As the women's suffrage movement gained
momentum during the late 1800s and early 1900s, Smith County
women played a role in helping further the cause. In 1893, Tyler
resident Mary Louise McKellar Herndon "was among many who signed
a call for a convention to meet in Dallas to organize an Equal
Suffrage Association for Texas, and to elect delegates to the
World's Fair Convention of the National American Suffrage
Association," according to research by Vicki Betts, professional
librarian at the Robert R. Muntz Library at The University of
Texas at Tyler. At 53, Ms. Herndon was president of the
northeastern division of the Women's Christian T