Annie W. Walker

Annie W. Walker (assumed), ca. 1932

Walker Tire Company,

Annie W. Walker (1874-1960) was a Charlottesville business owner and woman suffrage activist. She is the first women candidate to run for a seat on the city council. Walker ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the city council in the 1922 election - the first municipal election after the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920.

1922 election

In the June 13, 1922 election, Annie ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for one of the three seats available on the Charlottesville City Commissioner (precursor to the current five seat city council). She placed seventh in a seven-way race.

"Mrs. Walker’s small vote of less than a hundred indicated that as yet the local public is not prepared to take kindly to the idea of electing women as office holders, although the records show that there are some fifty more registered women voters than men." - Daily Progress

Business interest

In 1923, she held the office of Secretary of the Walker Automobile Corporation (formerly Walker-Sandridge Motor Corporation), 501-503 East Market Street, Charlottesville, Va.

Annie W. Walker is buried in Maplewood Cemetery.

Historic context

• On June 4, 1919 the U.S. Congress passes the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment guarantees women the right to vote. The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia was created in 1909. The primary goal of this group was to achieve equal voting rights for women in the state of Virginia. After women were given the right to vote, through the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, the organization was renamed the Virginia League of Women Voters.
  • In 1972, fifty years after the 1922 election, Jill Rinehart (1920-2014) became the first woman elected to the Charlottesville City Council - serving from 1972 to 1976.
  • In 1976, Nancy K. O'Brien became the city's first women mayor appointed by the City Council.