She died on December 9, 1964, and was buried in Hardy Cemetery in New Waverly. The Texas Regulars, as the group was called in the state, operated at the behest of the oil and gas lobby, as did Stevenson. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. [1] When Texas Governor James E. Ferguson actively opposed the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Cunningham formed a coalition that helped impeach the governor. Those Texas women who have shaped history owe a nod of recognition to Minnie Fisher Cunningham, one of the most prominent suffragist leaders of the 20th century and a “founding mother” of Texas women’s political and social activism. Texas voters defeated a suffrage referendum in 1919, but Cunningham's persistent lobbying paid off in the state legislature, which ratified the 19th Amendment the next year.National suffragists recruited Cunningham to Washington, D.C., in 1919 to help win passage of the 19th Amendment. Minnie Fisher Cunningham ​ (March 19, 1882-December 9, 1964) Marker Text: A native of Walker County, Minnie Fisher earned a pharmacy degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1901. The TDSW ran Cunningham in the 1960 Texas primary in a Favorite Daughter campaign, sidestepping any support for either Shivers or Johnson. Citizens at Last: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas. Minnie Fisher, a feisty, no-nonsense leader of the Texas suffrage movement was known by her supporters and enemies alike as "Minnie Fish" a name given to her by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But for Cunningham, the right to vote was only a first step. Cunningham helped create the Texas Equal Suffrage Association and served as the first executive secretary of the League of Women Voters. Metcalfe got the bill passed and Hobby signed the bill on May 26. A No thank you, I am not interested in joining. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Would you like Wikipedia to always look as professional and up-to-date? You need a Find a Grave account to add things to this site. In her last years, Minnie ran and financed a county-based election campaign for John F. Kennedy before she passed away in 1964. [20], In 1915, TWSA elected Cunningham as its president. [1], In January 1919, the Texas state legislature passed a state amendment authorizing full suffrage for women. [70] She was a guest speaker at the 1937 Texas Agricultural Association (TAA) meeting and was a 1938 advisor to the association. She worked in a Huntsville drugstore and married attorney B. J. Cunningham in 1902. Liz Carpenter served as Cunningham's press secretary. Noted For: A key player in Texas and national politics, Minnie Fisher Cunningham is noted as the first executive secretary for the National League of Women Voters, as a founding member of the Woman’s National Democratic Club, and as the first woman from Texas to run for the U.S. Senate. “Cunningham, Minnie Fisher,” At the same time, there was a growing possibility of impeachment of Governor Ferguson over numerous practices that included appropriations and appointments at the University of Texas. [36] She and NAWSA lobbyist Maud Wood Park, who would become the first president of the League of Women Voters,[37] initiated a campaign for constituents to flood the offices of their representatives with telegrams in favor of passage. Section 107 related to Copyright and “Fair Use” for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public.