Hannah Jane Patterson

Hannah Jane Patterson (November 5, 1879 – August 21, 1937) was an American suffragist and social activist. She was a key member of the women's suffrage movement in Pennsylvania and worked for the National American Woman Suffrage Association. During World War I Patterson was a member of the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense. For her service, she was awarded with a Distinguished Service Medal. Patterson graduated from Wilson College and studied at both Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Early life and education Hannah Jane Patterson was born on November 5, 1879, in Smithton, Pennsylvania, to Harriet McCune and John Gilfillan Patterson, a banker. In 1897, she began her studies at Wilson College in Chambersburg. She founded the Allegheny County Equal Rights Association in 1904 alongside Jennie Bradley Roessing, Mary Bakewell, Mary Flinn, and Lucy and Eliza Kennedy. Their organization's "Pittsburgh Plan" called for the creation of "local and regional associations at the political precinct level" and was later adopted on a national scale by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).

Patterson also worked with the Allegheny County Committee on School Legislation and was involved with the Consumers' League of Western Pennsylvania. serving as vice president of the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association (PWSA) and the first person to chair Pennsylvania's Woman Suffrage Party, a position she held until 1915. They mounted an intensive lobbying campaign, attending public events and giving lectures throughout the state. The PWSA commissioned the casting of the Justice Bell, a replica of the Liberty Bell with its clapper chained to its side as a symbol of how women were being silenced by being denied the vote. On July 7, 1915, at a "Suffrage Day" themed baseball game between the Phillies and the Giants, Patterson threw out the first pitch. While the suffrage amendment was narrowly defeated, The following year she was appointed Associate Director of the newly created Field Division of the Council of National Defense and was made a member of its governing board. In her role as Resident Director of the Woman's Committee, Patterson was responsible for the performance of each of the committee's departments. The Committee coordinated the actions of state divisions in conjunction with the larger war effort Patterson never married and she had no children.