At the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th, South Dakota was on the leading edge of a national effort to deal with two key social issues: prohibition of alcohol and women’s voting rights.
In 1916, the South Dakota legislature failed to pass a suffrage amendment but did pass a statewide prohibition bill, nearly four years before national prohibition. South Dakota recognized women’s voting rights in November of 1918, a full year before the ratification of the 18th amendment recognized woman suffrage nationally.
But prohibition and suffrage were burning issues in South Dakota even well before the laws were adopted and even well before statehood. A 2019-2020 exhibit at the Old Courthouse Museum in Sioux Falls recounts that history and examines the various forces either supporting or opposed to prohibition and woman suffrage. Some of the individuals leading these forces often worked on both issues at once, strongly stating their views on why the issues should be linked... or not.
South Dakota had its share of saloons and there were dozens of breweries in before a state-wide prohibition was enacted in 1916. The Sioux Falls Brewing Company (below) traced its roots to 1873 and brewed "near-beer" and pop between 1919 and 1921, when it closed for good. Businesses involved in alcohol production and sale were obviously opposed to a broad prohibition.
Many of South Dakota's German immigrants were opposed to prohibition for both cultural and political reasons. Delegates drafting South Dakota's constitution in the lead-up to statehood (above) held their conventions what was essentially a German-American gathering place in Sioux Falls.
Some in favor of prohibition were also in favor of woman suffrage, reasoning that if women could vote, a prohibition amendment would certainly be ratified in every state. Prohibition advocates in South Dakota included Carrie Nation (below), a nationally recognized figure in the temperance movement. In 1916, approximately 55% of South Dakotans voted for a prohibition amendment. In the same election, roughly 52% voted against a suffrage amendment. It was the sixth time that state voters had rejected suffrage.
Others in favor of woman suffrage wanted to disconnect the issue from prohibition. In South Dakota, suffrage advocates including Mary (Mamie) I. Pyle (below) did not openly advocate the idea of prohibition, reasoning that anti-prohibition forces were simply too strong and would forever be opposed to suffrage if it were linked with prohibition. Letting suffrage stand as one issue and prohibition as another, they hoped, would take some of the anti-prohibition pressure off of those supporting only suffrage.
Voting rights for women had been an issue in the Dakota Territorial legislature as far back as 1868. Legislatures both before and after statehood considered suffrage amendments but none passed until 1918. Legislative work on the bill was intense during 1917, just as the United States was entering World War I. Not surprisingly South Dakota's amendment recognizing women's voting rights stripped voting rights from immigrants. (Before 1918, a male immigrant could vote in South Dakota simply by declaring his intent to seek citizenship.) On November 5th, 1918, 63% of South Dakota voters agreed to recognize women's voting rights.
Prohibition was repealed in 1933.
Listen to an "In The Moment" radio interview with Kevin Ganz, Curator of Education, and Ben Devlin, the Exhibits Assistant at Siouxland Heritage Museums in Sioux Falls. (Broadcast 01/06/2020 on SDPB)
