Alva Belmont

Alva Belmont (1853–1933) was an American socialite and women’s rights activist who used her wealth and influence to support the U.S. women’s suffrage movement.

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Alice Paul: An American suffragist who led militant campaigns for a federal constitutional amendment granting women the vote. Belmont funded Paul’s National Woman’s Party and backed its confrontational campaign strategy.
National Woman's Party: An American political organization that campaigned for women’s equality and the federal Equal Rights Amendment. Belmont financed the party and gave it a base at her Washington headquarters.
William Kissam Vanderbilt: An American businessman and heir to the Vanderbilt fortune, and Alva Belmont’s first husband. Marriage to Vanderbilt placed Belmont within the wealth and social networks she later used for activism.
Nineteenth Amendment: The 1920 amendment to the U.S. Constitution that prohibits denying the vote on account of sex. Belmont devoted years and substantial resources to the campaign that culminated in its ratification.
Carrie Chapman Catt: An American suffrage leader who organized the campaign that secured ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Belmont and Catt worked in the national suffrage movement, though they differed over tactics.
National American Woman Suffrage Association: An American organization formed in 1890 to coordinate state and national campaigns for women’s voting rights. Belmont became its president in 1909, before aligning with the National Woman’s Party.
Oliver Belmont: An American politician and heir whom Alva Belmont married in 1896. Her second marriage connected her to the Belmont name and to another prominent political family.
Women's suffrage in the United States: The movement to secure voting rights for women in the United States, achieved nationally through the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Belmont’s activism formed one influential strand of this long campaign.
Susan B. Anthony: An American women’s rights reformer who campaigned for women’s suffrage and helped organize the National Woman Suffrage Association. Belmont supported the organization Anthony helped found and later became its president.
Washington, D.C., suffrage parade of 1913: A major suffrage procession held in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Belmont helped finance the event, which brought national attention to the suffrage cause.