Virginia Minor founded the Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri in 1867. 5 years later she tried to vote, but was rejected. She fought this discrimination in the Missouri trial court, the Missouri Supreme Court and, ultimately, the United States Supreme Court by asserting that all citizens had a right to vote.
The United States Supreme Court rejected her claim and told her, and the entire country, that voting rights are determined by Congress, not by the constitution.
Her fight did not stop there, Virginia Minor continued fighting voting discrimination and harassment until she died in 1894. In 1920 – twenty-six years after her death – the Nineteenth Amendment became law thus finally securing the women’s right to vote in the United States.
Now in 2013, the Missouri legislature will recognize the accomplishments of Virginia Minor by honoring her memory through the formal entry into the Hall of Famous Missourians.
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/12/07/4676336/4-people-selected-for-hall-of.html
