Florence Brooks Whitehouse
Florence Brooks Whitehouse driving with suffragists in Portland, Maine in 1914. Whitehouse is in White in the center. Photo: Maine State Museum.
Born into affluent Augusta family, Florence Brooks Whitehouse's early life was one of privilege. After completing finishing school at St. Catherine's Hall, she studied music, language, and arts before traveling throughout Europe and the Middle East for several years. When she returned to Maine, it was to marry Robert Treat Whitehouse, a lawyer and son of Maine Supreme Court Chief Justice William Penn Whitehouse, an ardent suffrage supporter. The Whitehouse's were active in the cultural movement, collaborating on writing and directing plays; Florence additionally founded the country's first professional group for women musicians.
In addition to having three children, Brooks Whitehouse published two novels between 1902 and 1904. By 1914, Brooks Whitehouse became involved in progressive activism through Portland's Civic Club. Her position as an affluent woman with powerful connections provided her the resources to pursue her cause: achieving women's suffrage, and to change laws and improve the conditions of women and children across the United States. While she joined the Maine Women Suffrage Association (MWSA) and became an organizer, her husband organized for the Men's Equal Suffrage League.
Brooks Whitehouse eventually joined the National Women's Party and worked with Alice Paul in the more "radical" wing of the suffrage movement—defined by direct action that was impossible for the press, politicians, and the public to ignore. Brooks Whitehouse picketed and organized against President Woodrow Wilson's reelection over his administration's failure to support and pass nationwide suffrage for women. Conflict with the MWSA over tactics and strategy led to Brooks Whitehouse's exit from the group and in 1916 she joined the newly created Equal Suffrage Referendum League, served as chair, and began organizing for the 1917 suffrage referendum.
In 1918 and 1919, Florence Brooks Whitehouse worked as one of the lobbyists to convince Frederick Hale, a US Senator from Maine, to vote in favor of the federal suffrage amendment. Hale switched his vote in favor only after there were enough votes for it to pass. The 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was ratified in 1920.
Brooks Whitehouse continued advocating for the betterment of her community, including with the National Council on Prevention of War and with the Red Cross. She never stopped working for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment—which still has not succeeded, despite the efforts of generations of activists.
Florence Brooks Whitehouse was posthumously inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2008.
