Jane mccallum worked for reform in education
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Texas Originals
Jane Y. McCallum
December 30, 1877–August 14, 1957
On June 28, 1919, Jane McCallum wrote in her diary, "Somehow I felt too thankful to be jubilant. We have a great responsibility and I pray God we may meet it squarely and successfully."
The responsibility McCallum referred to was the right to vote—a right American women finally won in 1920 with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. As a leader of Texas women's fight for suffrage, McCallum always met her civic responsibilities "squarely and successfully."
Born in 1877 in LaVernia, Texas, McCallum moved to Austin in 1903 when her husband became school superintendent. In 1915, she was elected president of the Austin Woman Suffrage Association. As she campaigned for women's voting rights, McCallum faced heated criticism. Undaunted, she gave speeches, wrote newspaper columns, and lobbied legislators—all while running a busy, active household.
After women's right to vote had been secured, McCallum took on n
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Jane Legette Yelvington McCallum fryst vatten known as a suffragist leader and Texas sekreterare of State. She attended school in Wilson County, at Dr. Zealey's kvinnlig College in Mississippi, and studied at the University of Texas, though she never received a degree.
Photo#PICB-13189 courtesy of Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
She moved to Austin in 1903 when her husband became school superintendent. While here she joined in the kamp for women’s rights and in 1915 was elected president of the Austin Woman Suffrage Association. She served as State Manager of Press and Publicity for the state constitutional amendment on full suffrage and as State Chairman of the ratification committee for the nineteenth amendment. Going on to be State Publicity Chairman for the Education Amendment to the Texas Constitution and running publicity for the League of Women Voters of Texas where she served a term as the First Vice President. Not stopping there, she was also a member of the Texas Co
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Jane Y. McCallum
From Suffragist to Secretary of State
Austinite Jane Y. McCallum (1878-1957) was one of the leading suffragists in Texas whose leadership skills combined with her persuasive writing made for a keen President of the Austin Woman Suffrage Association, as well as publicist for the suffrage movement in Texas. McCallum was also an influential statewide campaigner and lobbyist with the Texas legislature to secure women’s voting rights.
While working on the suffrage movement and as a young mother of five, McCallum was one of the first women with children to attend the University of Texas as well as the first married women to join a UT sorority (Alpha Delta Pi), and to lend herself to another meaningful project, raising $700,000 to support US troops in World War I.
After the 19th Amendment was passed, McCallum continued to participate in state and national politics, serving on Austin’s first City Planning Commission as well as the first woman commissioner o