Selina Solomons (1862–1942)

Selina Solomons was the daughter of German-born Hannah Marks Solomons (1835–1909), who moved to San Francisco for an arranged marriage, but after arriving decided against it and started teaching, eventually becoming the only female school principal in San Francisco. She went on to found the Woman’s Educational and Industrial Union of San Francisco. She eventually married community leader Gershom Mendes Seixas Solomons. Selina, one of their seven children, became a leading suffragist. She founded the Votes for Women Club in a loft near Union Square. The club was aimed at working class girls and women and was equipped with a kitchen where Selina Solomons cooked and served nutritious meals for a nickel. She hoped that the "girl who comes to eat, stays to read and talk." She stocked the reading room with suffrage movement literature, hosted lectures, forums and cultural performances advocating votes for women. She also enlisted the young women to join her in canvassing neighborhoods, especially South of Market, the home of "poor, working people," mostly of German and Irish descent. Miss Solomons was instrumental in the passage of California’s Eighth Amendment in 1911, granting women the right to vote almost a decade before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution became national law. Selina Solomons is best known today for her classic organizing manual, “How We Won the Vote in California." Her siblings included Dr. Adele Jaffa and California explorer Theodore Solomons.