Florence Lee (Brown) Cotnam was a suffrage leader and influential speaker from Little Rock, Arkansas. She was the first woman to address the Arkansas General Assembly and first president of the League of Women Voters of Little Rock. Her speeches persuaded thousands of Americans and aided in the passage of the 19th Constitutional Amendment. In addition, she started suffrage schools across the nation to educate men and women about their responsibility and power as voters.
Florence Cotnam was born to merchant and plantation owner, Tarleton Woodson Brown, and Eliza Webb Thurmond on April 16, 1865, in Cobham, Virginia. Growing up in the Reconstruction after the Civil War, Cotnam and her ten siblings witnessed political and social upheaval while receiving a rigorous education. Cotnam attended private schools in the neighboring towns of Gordonsville and Richmond.
When Cotnam was 13, the Brown family moved to Tyler, Texas, where she later attended its private university, Charnwood Institute. She met her future husband, Thomas Taylor Cotnam, and they were married on October 20, 1885. Shortly after, they had three children: Charles, Nell, and Thomas Tarleton. In the 1890s, the Cotnam family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, because Thomas Cotnam changed jobs. There, Cotnam soon established herself as a suffragist leader and an articulate speaker.
The Florence Cotnam Character Collection was developed by UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture intern Emily Summers. Summers is a UA Little Rock Donaghey Scholar, double majoring in Anthropology and French. She plans on graduating in May 2018. Summers’ interest in French culture flourished in the summer of 2016 when she studied in Orléans, France. She also feeds her interest in culture by participating in cemetery restorations in Arkansas. For her final project for the Donaghey Scholars program, she will work closely with Calvary Cemetery to document gravestones. After graduation, she hopes to pursue cemetery restoration and education.