Sashes were worn for rallies, parades, and street speaking. The colors and the small button identify the wearer as a member of the Women's Political Union. The WPU (formerly the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women) was formed by Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, to bring working class women into the suffrage movement. The WPU was responsible for holding the first large suffrage march in the United States (in New York in 1910).
“Votes for Women” was one of the most popular and recognizable slogans used by members of the woman’s suffrage movement.
overall: 2 in x 1 1/2 in x 1/2 in; 5.08 cm x 3.81 cm x 1.27 cm
Object Name:
necklace
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Women's Rights
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
1977.0800.01
Accession number:
1977.0800
Catalog number:
1977.0800.01
Description:
This pendant designed by Shirley Aidekman is a modern copy of the original “Jailed for Freedom” pins. It both reminds of and honors the sacrifice the original pin recipients made in the name of woman’s suffrage and equality.
In January 1917, members of the National Woman's Party (NWP) became the first people to picket the White House. Protesting the government's failure to pass a constitutional amendment enfranchising women, NWP members, led by Alice Paul, began picketing the White House. Their purple, white, and gold banners asked President Woodrow Wilson, "Mr. President what will you do for woman suffrage?" and "Mr. President how long must women wait for liberty?" Tolerated at first, the "silent sentinels" were increasingly seen as an embarrassment to the administration. As the United States entered the First World War, the NWP pickets' banners often pointed out the hypocrisy of fighting for democracy and freedom in Europe while denying it to women at home. In June 1917, the D.C. police began arresting the picketers for obstructing sidewalk traffic. 90 women were sentenced to terms ranging from 60 days to six months in the Occoquan Workhouse. When their demands to be treated as political prisoners were ignored, they went on hunger strikes and were forcibly fed. The publicity surrounding their ordeal generated public sympathy for the suffragists and their cause. In December, 1917, at a meeting in their honor, the pickets who had been jailed were presented with small silver pins in the shape of prison doors with heart-shaped locks.
National League of Women Voters Delegate Badge, 1922
Associated institution:
League of Women Voters
Associated person:
Blackwell, Alice
Measurements:
overall: 3 1/2 in x 1 1/2 in x 1/4 in; 8.89 cm x 3.81 cm x .635 cm
Object Name:
badge
Associated place:
United States: Maryland, Baltimore
Associated date:
1922-04-20
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*242991.273
Catalog number:
242991.273
Accession number:
242991
Description:
Badge worn by Alice Stone Blackwell as a delegate to the League of Women Voters 3rd Annual Convention and Pan-American Conference of Women held in Baltimore, Maryland April 20-30, 1922.
In 1920 the National American Woman Suffrage Association became the League of Women Voters with Carrie Chapman Catt as its first president. It was formed to help educate newly enfranchised women.
Alice Stone Blackwell was the daughter of Lucy Stone and an avid women’s rights advocate in her own right. She assumed editorship of the Woman’s Journal, a leading women’s political journal from 1870 to 1931, when her father, co-founder of the periodical with her mother, passed away (Stone Blackwell's editorship lasted from 1909-1917).
overall: 1 in x 1 in x 1/4 in; 2.54 cm x 2.54 cm x .635 cm
Object Name:
button
Subject:
Women's Suffrage
Government, Politics, and Reform
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*246529.09
Catalog number:
246529.09
Accession number:
246529
Description:
Button worn by supporters of woman suffrage.
This button displays two symbols of the suffrage movement: the colors purple, white and green and the popular slogan “Votes for Women,” Purple, green and white were the colors adopted by the British woman’s suffrage organization, the Women’s Social and Political Union (formed in 1903 and dissolved in 1917, the WSPU was instrumental in bringing about universal woman’s suffrage in Britain, which was not gained until 1928). When Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s daughter Harriot Stanton Blatch formed the Women’s Political Union in the United States (originally the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women), she adopted the purple, green and white standard as well.
overall: 3/4 in x 3/4 in x 1/4 in x 3/4 in; 1.905 cm x 1.905 cm x .635 cm x 1.905 cm
Object Name:
button
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*242991.062
Accession number:
242991
Catalog number:
242991.062
Description:
Button worn by supporters of woman suffrage.
The nine stars represent the number of states in which women had full suffrage at the time it was made. The first nine states to extend suffrage to women were Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), Idaho (1896), Washington (1910), California (1911), Kansas, Oregon and Arizona (all 1912).
"Votes for Women" was one of the most popular and recognizable slogans used by members of the woman’s suffrage movement.
overall: 100 in x 67 in x 103 in; 254 cm x 170.18 cm x 261.62 cm
Object Name:
wagon
Subject:
Women's Suffrage
Government, Politics, and Reform
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
1982.0288.01
Catalog number:
1982.0288.01
Accession number:
1982.0288
Description:
Originally a bakery or milk delivery wagon, tradition says that Lucy Stone used it at speaking engagements and to distribute the Woman's Journal. Around 1912 suffragists found the wagon in a barn on Stone's property. They painted it with slogans and continued to use it to sell the Woman's Journal as well as for rallies and publicity.
Lucy Stone, one of the so-called “19th century triumvirate” of woman’s suffrage and feminism, along with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was one of the organizers of the first National Women’s Rights Convention in 1850. In 1869 she founded American Woman Suffrage Association. More moderate than Susan B. Anthony's National Woman Suffrage Association, it admitted men as well as women and was committed to passage of the 15th amendment. In 1870 Lucy Stone founded the Woman's Journal to disseminate information about women’s rights topics.
overall: 3/4 in x 3/4 in x 1/4 in x 7/8 in; 1.905 cm x 1.905 cm x .635 cm x 2.22306 cm
Object Name:
button
Place made:
United States: New York, New York
Date made:
ca 1910
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*242991.051
Accession number:
242991
Catalog number:
242991.051
Description:
Button worn by supporters of woman suffrage.
The four stars represent the number of states in which women had full suffrage at the time it was made. The first four states to extend suffrage to women were Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), and Idaho (1896).
"Votes for Women" was one of the most popular and recognizable slogans used by members of the woman’s suffrage movement.
overall: 5 1/2 in x 3 1/4 in x 1/32 in; 13.97 cm x 8.255 cm x .0508 cm
Object Name:
postcard
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*257500.16
Catalog number:
257500.16
Accession number:
257500
Description:
This postcard honors Susan B. Anthony and urges women to complete her work for suffrage. Anthony died in 1906, fourteen years before passage of the nineteenth amendment giving women the right to vote. In her last public speech for woman suffrage she declared that, "Failure is impossible."
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
overall: 5 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in x 1/32 in; 13.97 cm x 8.89 cm x .0508 cm
Object Name:
postcard
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
1978.2120.01
Accession number:
1978.2120
Catalog number:
1978.2120.01
Description:
This postcard promoting woman suffrage shows an American flag with four stars representing the four states which had full suffrage at the time of its printing: Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896) and Idaho (1896).
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
overall: 5 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in x 1/32 in; 13.97 cm x 8.89 cm x .0508 cm
Object Name:
postcard
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*257500.17
Catalog number:
257500.17
Accession number:
257500
Description:
To the tune of the "Star Spangled Banner", this postcard celebrates the first five states to grant full suffrage: Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), Idaho (1896), and Washington (1910). At the same time it looks forward to a coming (successful) vote in California. California granted woman suffrage in 1911.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
overall: 5 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in x 1/32 in; 13.97 cm x 8.89 cm x .0508 cm
Object Name:
postcard
Subject:
Women's Suffrage
Government, Politics, and Reform
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*257500.19
Catalog number:
257500.19
Accession number:
257500
Description:
This postcard urges support for a coming (successful) vote in California. California granted woman suffrage in 1911. The five stars below the banner represent the states which had already granted full suffrage: Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), Idaho (1896), and Washington (1910).
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
overall: 5 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in x 1/32 in; 13.97 cm x 8.89 cm x .0508 cm
Object Name:
postcard
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
1979.0939.38
Accession number:
1979.0939
Catalog number:
1979.0939.38
Description:
Women countered the argument that they were too pure for the dirty business of politics by invoking the Progressive Era’s belief in “social housekeeping.” The logical extension of women’s ability to clean and order their homes was to apply those skills to clean and remedy the ills of society.
The postcard was part of a 1911 campaign for suffrage in California, which by a state-wide referendum in that year became the sixth state to approve woman’s suffrage.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Enameled pin worn by supporters of woman suffrage.
"Votes for Women" was one of the most popular and recognizable slogans used by members of the woman’s suffrage movement. Purple, white, and yellow were the colors of the National Woman’s Party founded in 1913 by Alice Paul.
overall: 5 1/2 in x 3 in x 1/32 in; 13.97 cm x 7.62 cm x .0508 cm
Object Name:
postcard
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*257500.21
Catalog number:
257500.21
Accession number:
257500
Description:
This postcard urges support for a coming (unsuccessful) campaign by the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association to ratify a state constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote in 1912. Ohio women could not vote until the state ratified the nineteenth amendment in 1919. The six stars represent the first six states to grant full suffrage: Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), Idaho (1896), Washington (1910), and California (1911).
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
overall: 6 in x 4 1/4 in x 1/32 in; 15.24 cm x 10.795 cm x .0508 cm
Object Name:
postcard
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*257500.25
Catalog number:
257500.25
Accession number:
257500
Description:
This postcard celebrates the passage of full suffrage in California in 1911 by depicting the symbolic adding of that state’s star to a ssuffrage flag." California joined stars representing the passage of suffrage in Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), Idaho (1896), and Washington (1910) on the flag.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Button worn by supporters of woman suffrage. “Votes for Women” was one of the most popular and recognizable slogans used by members of the woman’s suffrage movement.
overall: 3/4 in x 3/4 in x 1/4 in; 1.905 cm x 1.905 cm x .635 cm
Object Name:
button
Subject:
Government, Politics, and Reform
Women's Suffrage
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*242991.059
Catalog number:
242991.059
Accession number:
242991
Description:
Button worn by supporters of woman suffrage.
The ten stars on the flag represent the number of states in which women had full suffrage at the time this button was made. The first ten states to extend suffrage to women were Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), Idaho (1896), Washington (1910), California (1911), Kansas, Oregon and Arizona (all 1912), and Montana (1914).
"Votes for Women" was one of the most popular and recognizable slogans used by members of the woman’s suffrage movement.
overall: 1 in x 1 in x 1/4 in; 2.54 cm x 2.54 cm x .635 cm
Object Name:
button
Subject:
Women's Suffrage
Women's Rights
Government, Politics, and Reform
Woman Suffrage
ID Number:
PL*242991.181
Catalog number:
242991.181
Accession number:
242991
Description:
Button worn by supporters of woman suffrage.
The ten stars represent the number of states in which women had full suffrage at the time it was made -- Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), Idaho (1896), Washington (1910), California (1911), Kansas, Oregon and Arizona (all 1912), and Montana (1914).
“Votes for Women” was one of the most popular and recognizable slogans used by members of the woman’s suffrage movement.
