Letter from Ana López de Vélez to President Coolidge
1/16/1929
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The Nineteenth Amendment prohibited states from denying the vote on the basis of sex, but did not mention U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico. At the time, Puerto Rico’s territorial legislature refused to enfranchise the island’s women.
Puerto Rican suffragists continued to protest their disfranchisement for another 15 years. In 1929, President of the Puerto Rican Association of Women Suffragists, Ana López de Vélez, sent this letter to President Calvin Coolidge, urging his support for legislation that would enfranchise Puerto Rican women.
They gained a partial victory when literate women won the vote in 1929. All adult women finally gained the vote in 1935. Puerto Ricans today still lack equal voting rights with most other U.S. citizens. They participate in presidential primaries, but are unable to vote for president, and they elect only a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives.
Puerto Rican suffragists continued to protest their disfranchisement for another 15 years. In 1929, President of the Puerto Rican Association of Women Suffragists, Ana López de Vélez, sent this letter to President Calvin Coolidge, urging his support for legislation that would enfranchise Puerto Rican women.
They gained a partial victory when literate women won the vote in 1929. All adult women finally gained the vote in 1935. Puerto Ricans today still lack equal voting rights with most other U.S. citizens. They participate in presidential primaries, but are unable to vote for president, and they elect only a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Bureau of Insular Affairs.
Full Citation: Letter from Ana López de Vélez to President Calvin Coolidge; 1/16/1929; File 29260; General Files, 1914-1945; Records of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, Record Group 350; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/velez-coolidge, December 5, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
