Year Honored: 2020
Birth: 1864 - 1937
Born in: Delaware
Biography
Margaret Burton White Houston “felt deeply about the times and the social struggles of her sex.” In 1897, as a young wife and mother, she appeared before the Delaware Constitutional Convention and urged that the new Constitution grant Delaware women the right to vote, speaking at the time on behalf of the Equal Suffrage Clubs of Sussex County. Working tirelessly on behalf of woman’s suffrage, she was also a founding Vice-President of the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association.
In addition to her work with the Suffragist Movement, Houston was also involved in a number of other activities on behalf of women and her community. She was a founder and the first president of the New Century Club of Georgetown (1898), a women's club devoted to civic improvement. Its most notable accomplishment is establishing the Georgetown Library. Houston also served as one of the first presidents of the Delaware State Federation of Women's Clubs (1903-05).
Prior to becoming involved in the suffrage movement, Houston, along with her mother and sisters, was active in the temperance movement, due to the belief that it would benefit women who suffered abuse from drunk partners. The movement was a forerunner to today's efforts to quell domestic violence.
Houston was well educated, having graduated from the Academy in Newark, Delaware in 1887. Frequently, she assisted her husband, Robert G. Houston, who was a Georgetown lawyer and publisher.
In a 1983 remembrance, her niece recalled that Houston, “was a firebrand who never hesitated to speak her mind, most decidedly, on anything she felt important.” At the same time, however, “her remarks were polite, and she never knowingly insulted anyone, no matter how incensed she felt.” Along with her suffrage activities and civic involvement, Mrs. Houston raised three children, opened her home for extended stays by family and other visitors, and enjoyed baking, gardening, and painting watercolors.
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Sources and Additional Reading
Biographical sketch of Margaret White Houston. Biographical Sketch of Margaret White Houston | Alexander Street Documents. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1009859941.
Georgetown's Margaret White Houston played important role in suffragist movement. Cape Gazette. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://www.capegazette.com/article/georgetown%E2%80%99s-margaret-white-houston-played-important-role-suffragist-movement/195898.
Margaret Burton white Houston (1864-1937) - find... Find a Grave. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87403185/margaret-burton-houston.
- Collections: 2020, Delaware Suffragists