Pauline Adams

Pauline Forstall Colclough Adams (June 29, 1874 - September 10, 1957) was an Irish American suffragist who took a militant approach to the campaign and then went to prison for her political beliefs. Early life Pauline Forstall Colclough was born in Dublin, Ireland. She moved to the United States in 1898, living in Brunswick County, North Carolina, and later settling in Norfolk, Virginia. She married Norfolk physician Walter J. Adams; he established a medical practice and she gave birth to two sons. The Norfolk Equal Suffrage League was organized during a meeting in her home on November 18, 1910. She was elected the first president of the Norfolk League and served two more terms before refusing to run again. Unlike many other American suffragists, she advocated a militant approach, shunning the chance to speak in an educational manner during President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration in Washington, D.C. Her militant stance prompted a rift in the Norfolk League and would earn her a reprimand from the state League headquarters in Richmond. Suffrage activities In August 1913, she was one of 300 delegates to a suffrage conference in Washington, DC; she was one of three members from the state of Virginia.