In the spring of 1909, the convention was held in the ladies' parlor of the Capitol at Jackson. It lasted two days, a public evening session being held in the Senate Chamber, at which Miss Kate Gordon, corresponding secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, told of the work of the Era Club of New Orleans; Miss Jean Gordon, factory inspector for that city, spoke in behalf of child labor regulations and Mrs. Thompson gave a report of the press work, which had grown to such proportions that it was considered very significant of advance in suffrage sentiment throughout the State. The Rev. George Whitfield, a venerable Baptist minister, came from the neighboring town of Clinton and conducted devotional exercises and gave a talk on woman's position from a Biblical standpoint. R. K. Jayne of Jackson, an early suffragist, also spoke. At this time dues-paying members were reported from seventeen towns. Mrs. Somerville was re-elected president.
The annual convention was held in Greenville in 1910. Dr. Shaw and Miss Ray Costello of England made addresses; Judge E. N. Thomas of Greenville presided at one of the evening meetings; John L. Hebron, a Delta planter and afterwards State Senator, made an earnest speech of endorsement. It was reported that hundreds of letters were written and the association had gained a hold in fifty places, ranging from rural neighborhoods and plantation settlements to the largest towns. Frederick Sullens, editor of the Jackson Daily News, had given space for a weekly suffrage column edited by Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. J. C. Greenley edited a similar column in the Greenville Democrat. Mrs. Madge Quin Fugler supplied five papers and Mrs. Montgomery two. Miss Ida Ward of Greenville wrote articles for the papers of that town and Mrs. Mohlenhoff edited a column in the Cleveland Enterprise. Among other papers publishing suffrage material were the McComb City Journal and the Enterprise and the Magnolia Gazette. From the press superintendent there had gone out 1,700 articles, ranging in length from a paragraph to a half page, many of them written by her, and they were given prominence in special editions. Ten copies of the Woman's Journal which came from the national press department for years were forwarded to college, town and State libraries and to editors. How far and deep the influence of those Journals reached is beyond computation.
In the fall of 1910 the State association joined the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association in a booth at the Tri-State Fair in Memphis. An interesting feature was the press exhibit, consisting of a width of canvass many yards long on which had been pasted clippings from Mississippi newspapers, suffrage argument and favorable comment. The annual convention was held in Cleveland in 1911. Miss Gordon and Judge Thomas spoke at the evening session. Editor C. E. Glasco gave an earnest talk at a morning session. The department chairmen brought encouraging reports of their work. A letter was read from Colonel Clay Sharkey of Jackson, which later was published in leaflet form.
The State meeting was held at Flora in April, 1912. Mrs. Judith Hyams Douglas, president of the Era Club of New Orleans, and Omar Garwood of Colorado, secretary of the National Men's League for Woman Suffrage, were the principal speakers. The president, Mrs. Somerville, recommended that the various State organizations of women be invited to unite with the suffrage association in forming a central committee to secure such legislation as should be agreed upon by all. This was afterwards accepted by the Federation of Women's Clubs and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Resolutions were passed regretting the retirement from the presidency of Mrs. Somerville, to whose good generalship during the past four years the success of the association was in a large part due. Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson was elected president.
In response to the call to take part in the parade in Washington March 3, 1913, Mrs. Avery Harrell Thompson, temporarily residing there, was put in charge and with her husband, Harmon L. Thompson, arranged for a handsome float, on which Miss Fannie May Witherspoon, daughter of the member of Congress, represented Mississippi. Mr. Gibbs, a Mississippian, carried the purple and gold silk banner of the State Suffrage Association and four other young Mississippians, Judge Allen Thompson and his brother, Harmon, Walter and Edward Dent, marched beside the float, preforming valiant volunteer police duty when it became necessary. During this year the enrolled membership increased four-fold. Quarterly reports, nearly a thousand, were printed for the first time instead of written. A letter from the Irish Women's League of Dublin and one from the English Women's Equal Rights Union to the State president indicated the world-wide spirit of fraternalism which embraced even Mississippi's modest organization. Good work was done by the new superintendent of press work, Mrs. Dent. Not only did editors by this time willingly accept material but some of them wrote favorable editorials. The Yazoo City Herald, edited by N. A. Mott, was a new recruit. The Purple and White, a Millsaps College paper, was supplied with suffrage material by a bright senior, Janie Linfield.
For the first time suffrage headquarters were maintained at the State Fair by the Equity League of Jackson. Furnishings were loaned by Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Warren from their beautiful home "Fairview." A rest room for mothers and babies was provided, other tired visitors were also welcomed and the suffrage booth was the most popular place on the grounds. For the first time the association was invited to take part on Woman's Day at the State Fair, when representatives from the women's State organizations held a joint meeting, and the president, Mrs. Thompson, spoke for the suffragists.
Letters were sent to the Mississippi members of Congress urging them to vote for the Federal Suffrage Amendment and to President Wilson, pleading for his favorable consideration. Motion pictures were utilized in three ways—suffrage plays were shown, local clubs selling tickets received a part of the proceeds and suffrage slogans were thrown on the slides between pictures.
The State convention was held in the Senate Chamber of the new Capitol at Jackson in April, 1913. At the evening sessions all seats on the floor were taken, the galleries filled and chairs brought from committee rooms to accommodate the audiences. Music was furnished by the Chaminade Club of Jackson. Mayor Swepson I. Taylor gave the address of welcome. Others who spoke were Mrs. Fannie S. Clark, Mrs. E. T. Edmonds, president of the Equity League, and Mrs. Royden-Douglas, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. In her president's address Mrs. Thompson recommended that the association ask the next Legislature to submit to the voters a State constitutional amendment giving women the ballot, and this was unanimously adopted. The Rev. E. T. Edmonds of the First Christian Church of Jackson spoke on Woman Suffrage in New Zealand, where he had been a resident.
Letters to the president and secretary from U. S. Senators John Sharp Williams and James K. Vardaman were read in reply to appeals that they vote for the Federal Amendment. Senator Vardaman said that when the amendment came up he would "be glad to vote for it." Senator Williams said that he thought "the federal government ought not attempt to control a State in the exercise of this privilege," that he favored a "white woman's primary, in which the women of the State might say whether they wanted the ballot or not" and that he thought women just as competent to use it as men but did not approve of "forcing it upon them." He was "inclined to woman suffrage" and believed that "with safeguards it might be made a bulwark of white supremacy in the State." The large reception planned by Governor and Mrs. Earl Brewer had to be omitted because of the sudden illness of Mrs. Brewer. On account of home demands Mrs. Thompson declined re-election and Mrs. Dent was made president.
Under Mrs. Dent's administration the work prospered and advanced in popular favor. In the fall "woman suffrage day" was for the first time on the calendar of the State Fair. Headquarters were again maintained, for which space three times as large as that used the previous year was occupied. Mrs. Dent, a successful cotton planter, brought a bale of cotton from her plantation and presented it to the headquarters, where it afforded a unique platform for the speakers. Women from different parts of the State came to act as hostesses and take part in the speaking. This year a college contest was conducted by Mrs. Thompson, who offered a gold medal for the best argument for woman suffrage written by a college student of the State. Six of the largest colleges were represented and the medal was won by Mrs. Pearl Powell, of the Industrial Institute and College.