During TCU’s first five decades, another important social progression was taking place: women’s suffrage. In the late 1800s, American women organized, marched and petitioned for the right to vote — a bitter fight that raged for decades. Between 1878, when the 19th Amendment was introduced in Congress, and Aug. 18, 1920, when it was ratified, suffragists worked tirelessly for the rights of women.
The fight for equal voting rights took place in homes and on campuses, among partners and peers. The 1912 Horned Frog yearbook featured a student-drawn cartoon of a harried young man pushing a pram, with a second child and a basket of groceries under his arm. The caption: “Possible fate of the senior who marries a Suffragette.”
The TCU administration appeared supportive of women during the 1920s.
“Dr. Cockrell Believes That Women of Texas Want to Vote” stated the subhead of a 1920 Skiff article reminding TCU women to wield their new political power. It quotes the progressive TCU president following the passage of the 19th Amendment:
“There are two organizations in Texas,” he said, “that are saying that the women of Texas do not want the vote, and are trying in this way to discourage the women until the time for paying poll taxes is past. Let us show these organizations that the women of Texas do want the vote, and can use it wisely when they get it.”
One of the women listening to Cockrell in the chapel that day was a gregarious student leader who looked forward to taking part in a changing world.
Lallah “Cobby” de Stivers, class of 1919, of Celina, Texas, was an English major who earned a master’s in 1920. TCU’s first female yell leader, de Stivers also contributed stories and photos to the Horned Frog yearbook, worked as assistant editor of the Skiff and was voted “Best All Around Girl.”
Her master’s thesis, “The Changing Status of Woman and Her Attitude Toward Permanent Interests,” suggests de Stivers was destined for a remarkable life. She became director of music education in the Waco public school system. During World War II, she joined the Women’s Army Corps, working as a regional recruiter until leaving the service as a major in 1955.
A popular speaker at professional women’s clubs, de Stivers later earned a master’s degree in counseling and became supervisor of counseling at the Texas Employment Commission. She retired in 1969 at age 70 but continued donating time and money to women’s clubs and music programs in Central Texas, earning the nickname Musical Godmother from a local paper.
The fact that women’s clubs were dear to de Stivers demonstrates how 20th-century women needed to organize themselves socially to steer changes. In 1940, most Texas public libraries owed their founding to women’s clubs.