Profile: Emma Augusta McCoy (1884–1945)
Emma Augusta McCoy was born in 1884 in Franklin, Somerset, New Jersey. She was the youngest
says that her family were conservative Democrats. She was valedictorian at New Brunswick High
School and graduated with a degree in art from Cooper Institute in New York City. Emma McCoy
never married, living for much of her life with her sisters Jeanette and Eliza “Lillie” McCoy. In 1896,
of the teaching profession. In 1906, she was elected Railroad Secretary of the State Teachers
Association of Atlantic City, and in 1909 she spoke out in the Daily Home News in favor of teacher
tenure. McCoy did not become a suffragist until 1910, upon discovering that a much junior male
colleague made substantially more than she did. Henceforth, she was a member of the New
Brunswick Political Study Association (NBPSA). McCoy’s sister Lillie also joined the NBPSA, later
becoming its corresponding secretary. In 1911, Emma McCoy became president of the Middlesex
County Teachers Association.
McCoy made important contributions to the suffrage movement in 1912 and 1913. On April
29, 1912, she hosted a historic teachers association luncheon at Rutgers University. Anna Shaw
(1847–1919), president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association; Florence Howe
Hall and Clara S. Laddey, presidents of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association (NJWSA); and
home economist and suffragist Mary Pattison (1869–1951) of Colonia all spoke at the luncheon.
All the speakers advocated for the establishment of a women’s college at Rutgers, six years before
the New Jersey College for Women was established. The event was such a rousing success it even
enticed Clara Laddey’s daughter, Paula, to join the NBPSA.
On August 15, McCoy, now president of the NBPSA, organized a suffrage rally at Monument
Square. At this event, the NBPSA formally endorsed Theodore Roosevelt for president. On October
12, McCoy, along with Mary Pattison and Margaretta DeMott (1847–1916), helped found the
Woman’s Progressive Party in support of Teddy Roosevelt. Finally, in April 1913, McCoy was voted
to the executive board of NJWSA.
Emma McCoy
Daily Homes News
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