Dunedin celebrates suffragist Elizabeth Skinner

More than a century after women secured the right to vote, residents gathered Friday at Dunedin’s Edgewater Park to celebrate a woman who helped make it possible in Florida: “for justice, for equality, for women,” as suffragist Elizabeth Skinner said.

The event, “Celebrating Local Suffragist Elizabeth Skinner,” drew civic leaders, advocates and local organizations to the National Votes for Women Trail marker honoring one of Pinellas County’s most influential suffrage activists.

Members of the League of Women Voters North Pinellas, West Pinellas National Organization for Women, Pinellas National Organization for Women and representatives from La Femme Institute attended the gathering.

While national figures such as Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul are often associated with the suffrage movement, organizers said local leaders like Skinner helped turn the fight for voting rights into an effort that reached communities throughout Florida.

“Honoring the women who fought for suffrage reminds us that democracy depends on participation,” organizers said. “This event is an opportunity to celebrate local history while inspiring future generations to stay engaged in their communities and exercise their right to vote.”

The national suffrage movement may have been won in state capitals and Washington, D.C., but it was built community by community by women organizing meetings, recruiting supporters and lobbying elected officials. In Pinellas County, Skinner was one of those women.

Elizabeth Skinner

Skinner emerged as a leading voice in Florida’s suffrage movement during the early 1900s. As a leader within the Florida Equal Suffrage Association, Skinner organized women throughout Pinellas County and advocated for voting rights at a time when women were excluded from the ballot box. In 1919, she traveled to Tallahassee to lobby lawmakers in support of women’s suffrage during the final push toward ratification of the 19th Amendment.

Like many activists of the era, she spent years speaking at public meetings, distributing literature and building support for a cause that was far from universally accepted.

Skinner later served on the Dunedin City Commission and became the only woman on the Pinellas County School Trustee Board for several years. She also helped establish local civic organizations, including the YWCA and Boy Scouts programs, helping shape the community long after the suffrage movement achieved its goal.

 In 1955, Skinner was named Dunedin’s first “Lady Citizen,” and later received an honorary master’s degree from Florida Southern College.

Today, her legacy remains visible at Edgewater Park, where the National Votes for Women Trail marker commemorates her contributions to Florida history.

While Skinner never achieved the national recognition of other suffrage leaders, her work helped expand voting rights in Florida – more than 100 years later, her impact is palpable.

Elizabeth Skinner-Jackson Park is a one-acre neighborhood park that features playground equipment and a lighted basketball court. The park is located on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, approximately one-quarter mile south of the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center.