Virginia Minor (1824-1894) Inducted - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 Sculptor: Cynthia Hitschler Speaker: Tim Jones Where is Virginia Minor in the Hall of Famous Missourians? Virginia Louisa Minor was an American women’s suffrage activist. She was a tireless and shrewd campaigner for woman suffrage, best remembered as the plaintiff in Minor v. Happersett, an 1874 United States Supreme Court case in which Minor unsuccessfully argued that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote. During the American Civil War, Minor was an active member of the St. Louis Ladies Union Aid Society. Early in 1867 she petitioned the Missouri legislature to that end but without success. In May of that year, she organized in St. Louis and became president of the Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri, said to have been the first organization anywhere devoted to the single aim of woman suffrage. She remained president of the group until 1871. Minor stated that “the Constitution of the United States gives me every right and privilege to which every other citizen is entitled.” She died in St. Louis in 1894 and is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery.