Suffragists in South Carolina

Susan Pringle Frost, Unknown City: Founded the Charleston Equal Suffrage League.

Anita Pollitzer, Charleston: Stalwart suffrage worker with NWP. Worked in Tennessee on ratification drive. Active ERA supporter.

Carrie Teller Pollitzer, Charleston: Carrie dedicated herself to enhancing childhood education and advancing women’s rights in South Carolina.

Mabel Pollitzer, Charleston: An innovative teacher, Mabel worked tirelessly for women’s suffrage with the Charleston Equal Suffrage League. Active ERA supporter. Inducted into the National Council of Jewish Women Hall of Fame in 1965. ERA supporter.

Charlotta (Lottie) Rollin (b. 1849), Unknown City: Joined the American Woman Suffrage Association. During Reconstruction, influenced state politics.  She worked for Black congressman Robert Brown Elliott, and spoke on the floor of the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1869 in support of universal suffrage.  By 1870, Lottie chaired the founding meeting of the South Carolina Woman’s Rights Association and in 1871, led a meeting at the state capital to advocate for woman suffrage. With her sisters, Frances, Kate and Louisa, was active in promoting woman suffrage at both the state and national levels.

Eulalie Chafee Salley, Aiken: In 1909, Lucy Tillman Dugas, a resident a nearby town, lost custody of her two young daughters. While she was ill, her husband “deeded” their children to his parents: Senator Ben “Pitchfork” Tillman and his wife Sarah.  Salley joined the South Carolina Equal Suffrage League (SCESL) by sending a dollar for dues.  She raised major funds and became a realtor to make her own donations, working for women’s rights, becoming president in 1919. South Carolina rejected the 19th amendment, but ratified it in 1969 when she was 85, but paperwork was lost until 1979.