What is... the Women's Suffrage Movement in the Progressive Era?

What is Women's Suffrage? Simply put, it is the right for women to vote. But there is so much behind this term that, when explored, will open a new and deeper definition.

Lets first look at how this movement first started. It all began with women gathering together to express their common interests in learning and having a voice in society. These groups later gained more and more interest to the point where they were being recognized nationally. Some of the most popular groups includes: General Federation of Women’s Clubs and the National Association of Colored Women. 
A thing to note here is how these organizations, although working towards the same goals, were still involved in segregating women of color. Many women of color had to establish their own groups to be able to fight for their suffrage rights. These organizations had to work even harder to make their voices heard. Some of the famous activists of these Black American women movements include: Mary Jane Richardson Jones, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, and Mary Church Terrell. Mary Jane Richardson worked in Chicago to rally Black women to fight for suffrage, settlement work, and to raise awareness and hopes for their mission. Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin comes from Boston and worked for the same ideas of suffrage but also worked for abolition. In 1895, she created the First National conference of the Colored Women of America. Similarly, Mary Church Terrell formed the National Association of Colored Women, in her fight for suffrage.
To conclude, women from all backgrounds came together as small groups then grew into national movements. All fighting for equal rights and a chance to be heard in society. And all of these efforts worked! The Nineteenth Amendment was added after President Woodrow Wilson showed his support for women’s suffrage in 1918.

Suffragists campaigned tirelessly for the vote in the first two decades of the twentieth century, taking to the streets in public displays like this 1915 pre-election parade in New York City. During this one event, 20,000 women defied the gender norms that tried to relegate them to the private sphere and deny them the vote. 1915. Wikimedia.


Women protested silently in front of the White House for over two years before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Here, women represent their colleges as they picket the White House in support of women’s suffrage. 1917. Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-31799).


Suffragettes holding signs in London, c. 1912. George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-ggbain-oo111)



The humor magazine Puck—a pre-TV version of “The Daily Show”—published this illustration in 1915, five years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Courtesy Cornell University - The PJ Mode Collections of Persuasive Cartography


For more information, check out this video!


Bibliography

Andrew C. Baker et al., “The Progressive Era,” Mary Anne Henderson, ed., in The American Yawp, eds. Joseph Locke and Ben Wright (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018)

Suffragists campaigned tirelessly for the vote in the first two decades of the twentieth century, taking to the streets in public displays like this 1915 pre-election parade in New York City. During this one event, 20,000 women defied the gender norms that tried to relegate them to the private sphere and deny them the vote. 1915. Wikimedia.

Women protested silently in front of the White House for over two years before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Here, women represent their colleges as they picket the White House in support of women’s suffrage. 1917. Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-31799).

Suffragettes holding signs in London, c. 1912. George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-ggbain-oo111)

The humor magazine Puck—a pre-TV version of “The Daily Show”—published this illustration in 1915, five years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Courtesy Cornell University - The PJ Mode Collections of Persuasive Cartography

“History in a Nutshell.” PBS, June 8, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/video/womens-suffrage-movement-d3gzx2/. 




Location: CJ6V+FP Whittier, NC, USA

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