On the Eve of Women's History Month: Women of Protest, of the Land and Sea

It's difficult in this age to imagine the courage needed to pursue a path to women's suffrage. But the Library of Congress is highlighting one of those paths by a section entitled Women of Protest; Photographs from the Records of the National Women's Party, Manuscript Division, LOC, Washington, DC. The Smithsonian, too, is focusing on those women who have forged and trod upon difficult paths.

Suffragists picketing in front of White House

Right: Photograph of fourteen suffragists in overcoats on picket line, holding suffrage banners in front of the White House. One banner reads: "Mr. President How Long Must Women Wait For Liberty". White House visible in background. Harris & Ewing. 1917.

Overview

The National Woman’s Party, representing the militant wing of the suffrage movement, utilized open public demonstrations to gain popular attention for the right of women to vote in the United States. Their picketing, pageants, parades, and demonstrations — as well as their subsequent arrests, imprisonment, and hunger strikes — were successful in spurring public discussion and winning publicity for the suffrage cause. Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party presents both images that depict this broad range of tactics as well as individual portraits of organization leaders and members. The photographs span from about 1875 to 1938 but largely date between 1913 and 1922. They document the National Woman’s Party’s push for ratification of the 19th Amendment as well as its later campaign for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. This online presentation is a selection of 448 photographs from the approximately 2,650 photographs in the Records of the National Woman’s Party collection, housed in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.

Women assembling for first national suffrage parade

Women begin to assemble for the first national suffrage parade, Washington, DC. Harris & Ewing. March 3, 1913.

Timeline Time for the Vote!

Essay: Suffrage Campaign Tactics Berthe Arnold

Right: Informal, full-length portrait of Berthe Arnold of Colorado Springs, Colorado, wearing a hat and fur-trimmed coat with a bouquet of flowers pinned on the front, looking downward at an urn containing a burning "watchfire" maintained in front of National Woman's Party headquarters in Washington, DC. The photographic agency was Harris & Ewing.

Moving from the Library of Congress to the Smithsonian Institute during Women's History Month, don't overlook some of their most popular features:

Before Rosie the Riveter, Farmerettes Went to Work
During World War I, the Woman’s Land Army of America mobilized women into action, sustaining American farms and building national pride

By Elaine F. Weiss

Up in Arms Over a Co-Ed Plebe Summer
Photojournalist Lucian Perkins reunites Naval Academy graduates Sandee Irwin and Don Holcomb, 30 years after his photo captured the new gender dynamics at the school.

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On the Eve of Women's History Month: Women of Protest, of the Land and Sea

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