Frederick Douglass, a former slave and prominent abolitionist, was an early supporter of women’s suffrage. The day after the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention (the first for women’s rights), Douglass published a column in his abolitionist newspaper, The North Star, which asserted, “Standing as we do upon the watch-tower of human freedom ... we hold woman to be justly entitled to all we claim for man.” Other men also spoke out for women’s suffrage in the 19th century, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that men in larger numbers voiced their collective support.

In 1902, Henry Villard, publisher of the Post and the Nation (and grandson of William Lloyd Garrison – prominent abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer), joined other male supporters for “An Evening with the New Man,” an event at that year’s National American Woman Suffrage Association national convention. In one of the earliest headlines about men’s support, the Washington Post featured - Men Champion Cause: Woman Suffragists Not Alone In Their Battle.

In 1908, Villard gave NAWSA a list of 100 men whose names and civic importance would “impress the public and the legislators.” These men agreed to openly support the cause of women’s suffrage. By 1909, they had formed the Men’s League for Woman Suffrage and used their connections to lobby politicians, serve on committees to impact legislative maneuverings, raise campaign funds, and influence prestigious publications to run articles about the suffrage cause. W.E.B. DuBois, a well-known black civil rights activist and editor of the NAACP’s monthly magazine The Crisis wrote, “Every argument for Negro suffrage is an argument for woman suffrage; every argument for women suffrage is an argument for Negro suffrage. Both are great movements in democracy.” Soon the League spread with chapters across the country.

Another men’s group to support women’s suffrage was the National Men’s League started by James Less Laidlaw, a wealthy banker whose wife was active in the movement. By 1912, their membership numbered 20,000.

It was men who ran the country; and men were needed to influence their colleagues to embrace political change for the inclusion of women.