Growing Activism
By 1904, the EPEL had incorporated as a formal organization. It affiliated with the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA), working on the community level to distribute pamphlets, host lectures, and sponsor essay contests. EPEL was likely involved in organizing a 1912 lecture by Evanstonian and EPEL co-founder Catharine Waugh McCulloch, IESA president Ella Stewart, and Chicago Equal Suffrage Association president Grace Wilbur Trout at the Evanston YMCA, one stop on a suffrage tour around the state of Illinois.
The Evanston Political Equality League primarily built support for the suffrage by distributing pamphlets, hosting lectures, and sponsoring essay contests. Much of their focus was to give a public face to suffrage supporters and to show the broad support of the movement in the community and beyond. An example of one of the League’s many activities was a 1912 lecture by Catharine Waugh McCulloch, IESA president Ella Stewart, and Chicago Equal Suffrage Association president Grace Wilbur Trout at the Evanston YMCA, as part of a suffrage tour around the state of Illinois. The League also canvassed for suffrage votes and was active in supporting regional and statewide suffrage work.