Elizabeth Piper Ensley
Inductee Name
Elizabeth Piper Ensley
Date of Birth
Born 1847, Died 1919
Year Inducted
2020
Category
Activism & Advocacy
Impact
Denver
PORTRAIT SPONSOR
Black American West Museum and League of Women Voters of Colorado
She was one of the key members of the Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage Association of Colorado and one of the 28 original members when the association was created in 1893. She was one of only a handful of African American women leaders nationwide who worked for suffrage rights within the racially integrated campaign, the CNPESA. Ensley also was instrumental in mobilizing African American women to join the suffrage campaign and persuading African American men to vote for women’s suffrage.
Ensley founded the Colorado Association of Colored Women’s Clubs in 1904 and served as an officer on the state Board of Directors of the Colorado State Federation of Women’s Clubs – the influential state organization primarily led by white women.
