There were also short reports for 1903 and 1904, which, while showing no practical, tangible results of the efforts of that earnest pioneer worker, are interesting as evidences of the backward, unprogressive spirit against which the women of Alabama have had to contend. These reports mark the end of the first period of suffrage activity in the State, which had been maintained by a few devoted women. The new era was ushered in by the organization in Selma in 1910 of an Equal Suffrage Association which was the beginning of an aggressive, tireless fight. Miss Mary Partridge, after seeing the defeat of a constitutional amendment for prohibition in Alabama despite the earnest but ineffectual efforts of the women who besieged the polls begging the men to vote for it, decided that the time was ripe for a woman suffrage organization and wrote for advice to Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, who answered in part: "I cannot express to you how happy I am that you are willing to begin the work in your State where very little has been done for suffrage because of the great conservatism among the women of the South. I am very glad if they are now beginning to realize their absolutely helpless and unprotected position. We have the temperance agitation to thank for arousing a great many women over all the country...." Shortly after the receipt of this letter Miss Partridge sent out a "call" in the Selma papers and on March 29, 1910, Mrs. Frederick Watson, Mrs. F. T. Raiford, Mrs. F. G. DuBose, Mrs. F. M. Hatch and Miss Partridge met at the Carnegie Library and organized the association. This action was reported to Dr. Shaw and she extended the greetings of the National Association with "thanks and appreciation." The Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association was the outgrowth of a small group of women who had been holding study meetings in the home of Mrs. W. L. Murdoch. The enthusiasm and earnest conviction resulting from them found expression in a "call" for a woman suffrage organization and on Oct. 22, 1911, the association was formed at a meeting held in the Chamber of Commerce, where the following officers were elected: President, Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs; first vice-president, Miss Ethel Armes; second, Mrs. W. L. Murdoch; third, Mrs. W. N. Wood; corresponding secretary, Miss Helen J. Benners; recording secretary, Mrs. J. E. Frazier; treasurer, Mrs. A. J. Bowron.