Lila Meade Valentine

Lila Meade Valentine (born Lila Hardaway Meade; February 4, 1865 – July 14, 1921) was an American education reformer, healthcare advocate, and one of the main leaders of her state's participation in the woman's suffrage movement in the United States. She worked to improve public education through her co-founding and leadership of the Richmond Education Association, and advocated for public health by founding the Instructive Visiting Nurses Association, through which she helped eradicate tuberculosis from the Richmond area.

Valentine co-founded the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia and served as its first president. Under her leadership the league began a campaign to educate Virginia's citizens and legislators on the topic of women's suffrage and brought the issue to the floor of the General Assembly three times between the years 1912 and 1916. Within 10 years of its founding, the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia became the largest political organization in the state.

When Valentine's legislative efforts proved unsuccessful at the state level, she focused her attention on the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, seeing it become law shortly before her death.