by Mike Paradela and Christopher Smith. Artistic Credit: Alex Mao
Last year, the San Jose Peace and Justice Center wrote an article celebrating the contributions women have made in our city. We would like to continue this by praising even more women and their contributions to humanity, in general, and San Jose, in particular.
Again, this is not a definitive list of women and their accomplishments. This is just a brief overview of some significant players and hidden figures.
Clara Shortridge Foltz
Clara Shortridge Foltz was the first woman attorney in California. She amended the Code of Civil Procedure and changed the language from “any white male citizen” to “any citizen or person” which caused a firestorm of criticism.
She has a vast list of accomplishments including: creation of the public defender and parole systems and abolition of iron cages for prisoners during trial.
At the age of 62, in 1911, she drafted a suffrage amendment that stated “women citizens of this state who comply with election laws and are 21 years old shall be entitled to vote at all elections.” She personally bore witness to the governor as he signed it. She stood over his desk, watching him.
Elizabeth Nicholas
Elizabeth Nicholas was a member of the Communist Party USA and a union organizer. She dedicated her life to organizing workers in the canning and dried fruit industries. Because of her efforts and talents, Nicholas eventually became the Vice President of Federal Local 20325, a charter of the American Federation of Labor. Since she was an avowed Communist, Edward Vandeleur, of the California state Federation, dismissed her charter and opted for another one. Yet, the Santa Clara County Central Labor Council backed Nicholas because she and others organized 25,000 individuals into a union.
Nicholas participated in various strikes throughout San Jose. She never hid her Communist identity, and she focused more on helping her immediate community and building up worker power in our city.
Elizabeth P. Boyer
Elizabeth P. Boyer was a black suffragist who dedicated her life to civil rights and political justice. Migrating to San Jose from Detroit Michigan in 1898, Boyer would go on to co-found the Garden City Women’s Club sometime between 1906-1908. Dedicated to explicitly connecting community service and racial unity, the club would provide Boyer the opportunity to engage in more forms of organizing and leadership, eventually continuing her work in the second organization she would join as the 3rd president of the State Federation of Colored Women’s Club of California (1911-1912).
Under Boyer’s leadership the first Club Journal would be published, analyzing the political climate, the organization’s philosophies, and recognizing different strategies to revolutionizing the community. Boyer would write about the “blood-thristy Southerner” and the “cold blooded indifferent Northerner” when discussing the racism which was prevailing in the entire nation, even stating that “we admit how slow our progress has been in the cause of justice.” Yet Boyer did not let this discourage her, making the explicit statement “we should not indulge in pessimism as it makes one narrow minded … there is nothing to be gained by hostilities and antagonism.” The Club Journal would be published consistently until the first World War, where members would dedicate themselves to aiding the allies and seizing all publications save writings regarding “The teaching of the different communities the value to the race of united war work in helping win the war.”
Boyer would join one final Club after the war, becoming a member of the Art and Industrial Club and continuing her revolutionary work until passing in 1928, being buried in Oak Hill cemetery as a member of the Fifteenth Street Zion Church, allowing her revolutionary legacy to inspire us today.