Born on December 18, 1878
Women’s suffrage movement leader Edna Gellhorn was born in St. Louis and raised to value public service. She fought in reform movements to end child labor, realize racial equality, improve milk safety standards, and win women the equal right to vote. An officer in the Missouri and St. Louis Leagues of Women Voters, she helped stage the 1916 “Golden Lane” women’s voting rights demonstration outside the Democratic National Convention. Over 7000 women wearing suffrage yellow sashes silently held golden yellow parasols. In 1920 the ratified 19th Amendment granted women the vote, and Edna Gellhorn helped found the National League of Women Voters.
