The Rollin Sisters | Sisterhood: SC Suffragists - Episode 4

The South Carolina Woman Suffrage Association was founded in Columbia in 1870, with Charlotte Rollin as the Chair. A charter is created and sent to Lucy Stone, one of the founders of the American Woman Suffrage Association, and the creation of South Carolina’s only AWSA chapter is approved. Charlotte Rollin and Lucy Stone maintain a correspondence. In 1871, the New York Sun and the New York Herald newspapers publish lengthy interviews with the Rollin Sisters, with scathing criticisms of the Republican South Carolina government. Regardless of the mixed reviews of the Rollin Sisters, there was agreement that Frances Rollin was a celebrated figure in South Carolina’s political circle. Meetings are held in the SC State House to amend the 1868 Constitution to include women’s suffrage, which ultimately fails, and suffrage for women would not come until decades later.

Standards

• 4.4.CC Identify and evaluate the economic, political, and social changes experienced throughout the Civil War.
• 4.4.P Explain how emancipation was achieved as a result of civic participation.
• 4.5.CC Identify and evaluate the impact of economic, political, and social events on the African American experience throughout Reconstruction.
• 4.5.E Analyze multiple perspectives of the economic, political, and social effects of Reconstruction on different populations in the South and in other regions of the U.S.
• 5.2.CX Contextualize the post-war economic climate on the cultural landscape throughout the United States and South Carolina.
• 8.3.CC Analyze debates and efforts to recognize the natural rights of marginalized groups during the period of expansion and sectionalism.
• This indicator was designed to encourage inquiry into the continuities and changes of the experiences of marginalized groups such as African Americans, Native Americans and women, as the U.S. expanded westward and grappled with the development of new states.
• 8.4.CO Compare perspectives toward reform that engaged during the Progressive Era.
• This indicator was designed to encourage inquiry into how new state and federal Progressive legislation affected individuals and businesses in South Carolina and the US. The indicator was designed to promote inquiry into the new perspectives that emerged regarding social and political change.
• USHC.3.CE Assess the causes and effects of significant turning points in the Populist and Progressive era from 1877–1924.

Resources