So I was looking into the symbolism of the Suffragette colors (purple, white, and green) and I ended up reading a bit about the symbolism associated with the Suffrage movement in general and the purpose of that symbolism.
Many women in the Suffrage movement were encouraged to dress very fashionably and to emphasize their femininity. This was an attempt to combat the anti-suffrage media image of women’s rights activists as mannish and undesirable, since that image could discourage more women from joining the movement. (Not all agreed with this course of action. Notably, Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton - organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention and the primary author of the Declaration of Sentiments - believed that fashion was designed to distract women and keep them focused on serving men’s desires.)
But generally, the idea of dressing fashionably and femininely caught on strongly, and was rather effective helping to popularize the movement. After a time, it even became sort of fashionable to be a Suffragette/Suffragist, in some circles. (Suffragette was the term typically used in Britain, but it was seen as an offensive term by many American women, who preferred to call themselves Suffragists.)
The clothes they wore had specific meanings also. If you’ve ever seen pictures of Suffrage Parades, you might remember that the women in them wore white dresses.
White was meant to represent the purity and high-mindedness of the cause. That’s why it was one of the main three colors that represented the Suffragette movement. There were also a couple more practical reasons for white dresses - one, they were cheaper; and two, they stood out in the crowds of dark-suited men.
The other two colors, purple and green, had their own specific meanings. Historically, purple is used as the color of royalty. The Suffragettes drew on this symbolism, and used it to represent loyalty, constancy of purpose, and “the instinct of freedom and dignity.” (quote from Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence.)
Green represented hope and new beginnings, new life. Pethick-Lawrence called it “the emblem of spring.”
So those are the meanings of the colors that many people are familiar with in association with the Suffrage movement. What some people might not know is that in America, the Suffragists commonly used gold to symbolize their movement. Gold was popularized after Suffragists in Kansas adopted the sunflower as an emblem - the sunflower was seen as a beacon of hope.
The Suffragists followed the Suffragettes in using white and purple as their colors, but instead of green, the common third color was gold.
This is the flag used by the National Woman’s Party in America. In a newsletter, the organization described the gold in the flag as “the color of light and life,” and as the color of “the torch that guides our purpose, pure and unswerving.”
Anyway, there’s definitely some symbolism and some history here that I think I’d like to incorporate into my life, maybe with some stickers and pins. We are following in the footsteps of the women who came before us; the women who fought for every inch of dignity and freedom we have gained today. I think it’s worth it to carry them and our history with us as best we can, even in small ways. I wanted to share this because I think there are others who feel the same.
MS Jernigan, MS Ochoa and MS Payette with National Women’s Party banner, STS-96 Space Shuttle Discovery, 1999. NARA ID 23209923.
#OTD 1993: Ellen Ochoa is 1st Hispanic Woman in Space!
The three astronauts hold in space an original gold, white and purple suffrage banner from the National Woman’s Party, borrowed from the Sewall-Belmont House in DC. Ochoa used it in a PSA from space!
Last chance to see THAT BANNER in our related exhibit in DC - Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Votecloses this Sunday, April 10. Can’t make it? Check it out online! See related press release.
Archives Curator Corinne Porter, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero view original 19th Amendment. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for the National Archives).
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
- 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution
Convention Days at Women’s Rights National Historical Park
The year 2020 will mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.
Early women’s rights activists dedicated years, and in some cases most of their lives, advocating for the right to vote. Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York commemorates one of the earliest women suffrage movements in United States history. It was here the first Women’s Rights Convention took place in 1848, attracting nearly 300 men and women to debate and exchange ideas regarding the social, civil, and moral rights of women.
The park tells the story of this event through a variety of sites including Wesleyan Chapel, where the convention was held, as well as the homes of renowned women rights activists Jane Hunt, Mary Ann M'Clintock, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton who launched the women’s rights reform movement. They contributed to the creation of the Declaration of Sentiments, which proclaimed that “all men and women are created equal.”
If you find yourself in Seneca Falls this weekend, the park is hosting Convention Days on July 19-21, 2019.
The event is a unique opportunity learn about the early days of the women’s rights movement and the factors that impacted its development. Not-to-miss events include ranger-guided tours, reenactments of the Declaration of Sentiments speech, and the opportunity to meet Coline Jenkins, great-great granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who will present the keynote address!
On 1 February 1913, Leonora Cohen made history when she threw an iron bar at the Crown Jewels in protest at the Government. Becoming known as the ‘Tower Suffragette’, Leonora dedicated her life to fighting for women’s suffrage and equality. Not only did she campaign for women’s right to vote in 1918 and 1928, but incredibly she fought again in her late nineties for the passing of the Equal Pay Act in 1970. This gave men and women equal pay for equal work, something that she had been fighting for from the very beginning.
Discover Leonora Cohen’s remarkable story in our film (http://bit.ly/LeonoraCohen) and find out how you can get involved in our programme of events marking the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 here: http://bit.ly/VotesandVoices
Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka) was such a peaceful colony that the British instituted universal suffrage in the country in 1931, only three years after its adoption in Britain. Its path to independence was also so moderate and peaceful that when the country gained independence in 1948, parts of the countryside supposedly didn’t even realise.
Harriet Tubman is known to all as a conductor of the Underground Railroad who led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom. It is for this legacy that her stoic, weathered face was elected by popular vote to grace the $20 bill in 2020. (However, the Treasury Secretary may not go forward with this decision made during the Obama Administration, an infuriating announcement you can read more about here.)
Her extraordinary life, far-reaching actions, and immeasurable impact on those she knew have elevated her to a myth-like status in American history. But Harriet was a real, flesh-and-blood woman who spent her life fighting for a better life for African Americans. To understand her life in full, here are five important things to know about Harriet Tubman:
Harriet Tubman is known to all as a conductor of the Underground Railroad who led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom. It is for this legacy that her stoic, weathered face was elected by popular vote to grace the $20 bill in 2020. (However, the Treasury Secretary may not go forward with this decision made during the Obama Administration, an infuriating announcement you can read more about here.)
Her extraordinary life, far-reaching actions, and immeasurable impact on those she knew have elevated her to a myth-like status in American history. But Harriet was a real, flesh-and-blood woman who spent her life fighting for a better life for African Americans. To understand her life in full, here are five important things to know about Harriet Tubman:
1. Harriet Tubman wasn’t always, well, Harriet Tubman. She went by an assortment of names and nicknames, each denoting a different stage of her life and what she represented to her fellow African Americans. Born Araminta “Minty” Ross, she changed her name to Harriet Tubman after marrying John Tubman. (Her choice of first name is possibly in homage to her mother.) As a leader of the enslaved to freedom, she was the Moses of Her People. As a pre-war abolitionist, she was General Tubman. As a nurse in the Civil War, she was Black Moses. As an outspoken suffragist, she was Mother Tubman. And in her post-war years, she was, simply, Aunt Harriet.
2. In her tireless quest for black liberation, Harriet was an armed spy and scout for the Union during the Civil War. Her most notable accomplishment is her pivotal role in the Combahee River Raid. Under Colonel Montgomery, Harriet helped lead Union ships into the South Carolina harbor through mine-filled waters. Once they arrived, Union soldiers stole Confederate supplies and set fire to plantations. Amidst this chaos, 750 enslaved were freed and carried to the North in Union ships. The Moses of Her People once again led the slaves out of Egypt.
3. Post-war, Harriet used her seemingly boundless energy to support women’s suffrage. She was a member of the National Women’s Suffrage Association, founded by famous suffragette Susan B. Anthony, a fugitive slave harborer for the Underground Railroad and a wartime abolitionist. Later, put off by the racism of Southern suffragettes who were not inclusive of black women, she joined the National Association of Colored Women, where she was the keynote speaker at their inaugural meeting (as well as the oldest woman in attendance).
4. Always looking for ways to help others, Harriet long dreamed of opening a house for elderly and disabled blacks. Even after her own home caught fire (and she and her second husband, Nelson Charles Davis, rebuilt it literally brick by brick, as he was a brick-maker), Harriet was intent on seeing her dream realized. After years of mortgages, reconstruction, and debt, the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Infirmed Negroes (later shortened to the Harriet Tubman Home) opened in 1908.
5. After everything she had done for the Union, from spying and scouting to nursing and cooking, Harriet was never paid for her work in the War. Deeply unsatisfied with this injustice, Harriet spent the remainder of her life arguing for full compensation. It wasn’t until 2003 that the government corrected its wrongdoing when Hillary Clinton introduced a bill to pay Harriet’s pension, a total of $11,750, to the Harriet Tubman Home.
This December, we will be releasing our newest book, Harriet Tubman For Beginners by Annette Alston and illustrated by Lynsey Hutchinson. Alston delves into Tubman’s achievements, hardships, and faith while Hutchinson’s artwork punctuates the pages. Follow this blog to learn more about Harriet’s life and legacy.
On this day in 1854, Mary Littlebale wrote to Boston’s Board of Aldermen to protest against the “taxation without representation” of Massachusetts women.
Littlebale argued that the practice of taxing women who could not vote flew in the face of the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence as well as the Massachusetts Bill of Rights. She wrote “On what ground are the women of this Commonwealth called upon to bear any portion of the public burden while denied by her statues the concomitant right of Suffrage?”
After arguing against common arguments against women’s suffrage, Littlebale ended her letter, “I demand of your justice exemption from these taxes enforced without my consent and in defiance of the principles of our Constitution.”
We know that LIttlebale’s letter was received by the Board of Aldermen and filed, but we don’t have any record of their response to her. Women in Massachusetts did not gain full suffrage until 1920. Read her entire letter above.
Docket 1854-0166-A Proceedings of the City Council, Collection 0100.001, Boston City Archives .
Fancy ladies and lads in the US probably already know this (hopefully) but today’s election day! Don’t forget to go out and vote if you haven’t already.
Suffrage envoys from San Francisco greeted in New Jersey on their way to Washington to present a petition of more than 500,000 signatures to Congress, 1915.
On This Day in Herstory, August 27th 1875, Katharine Dexter McCormick, an influential philanthropist, biologist, suffragist, heiress, and funder of the first birth control pill was born, in Dexter, Michigan.
McCormick attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and graduated with a degree in biology in 1904. This is where she really found her passion for gender equality; MIT mandated that all female undergraduates wear hats adorned with feathers, McCormick refused stating that it would be a tremendous fire hazard in laboratories; her passion and relentlessness made MIT’s administration change their policies.
After her graduation McCormick became involved with the Woman’s Suffrage Movement. In 1909 she spoke at the first outdoor rally for suffrage in Massachusetts, and became vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Through her activism McCormick met Margaret Sanger in 1917. Sanger is the mother of modern birth control, and she persuaded McCormick to join the Committee of 100, a group of influential women who worked to legalize birth control.
McCormick and Sanger worked together through the 20′s on birth control issues, McCormick smuggled in and distributed more than 1,000 diaphragms from Europe to New York City. By 1947 McCormick’s mother and husband had died, leaving her inheritor to more than $45 million (more than $500 million today). She used this money to fund the work of Gregory Goodwin Pincus who was working to develop hormonal birth control. She gave him $100,000-$180,000 a year of her own money from 1951 to 1967; the FDA approved the sale of the drug in 1957, but McCormick continued to invest in Pincus as he researched ways to improve birth control.
At the age of 92 McCormick died. In her will she gave $5 million to Stanford University School of Medicine to support the education of female physicians. She also gave $5 million to Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
On This Day in Herstory, August 26th 1920, the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution is incorporated, giving women across the US the right to vote.
After more than a century of struggle and protest in America the Women’s Suffrage Movement finally won, and women across the country were granted the same voting rights as men. (This is legally speaking, but in practice women still struggled. Black women weren’t given equal voting rights until 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed.)
The Women’s Suffrage Movement officially began on a national level in the US in 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott held the Seneca Falls Convention. Stanton, Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Virginia Minor, and countless other women fought to raise awareness of Women’s Suffrage, and on August 18th 1920, Tennessee ratified the bill granting women the vote, and became the final State needed to win a three-fourths majority.
Just over a week later US Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the law and so it became the 19th Amendment to the constitution.
Women across the country were able to exercise their newly earned right, when on November 2nd 1920, 8 million women were allowed to vote in the US Presidential election. Finally, on March 22nd 1984, Mississippi became the final State to ratify the amendment.
Did anyone else remember that the First Woman Presidential NomineewasVictoria Woodhull
“Victoria Claflin Woodhull, later Victoria Woodhull Martin was an American leader of the woman’s suffrage movement. In 1872, Woodhull was the first female candidate for President of the United States.”
Susan B. Anthony was a primary organizer, speaker, and writer for the 19th century women’s rights movement in the United States, especially the first phases of the long struggle for women’s vote and the women’s suffrage movement
![A women’s suffrage activist protesting after “The Night of Terror.” [1917]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/0f5b5232272078cc03df7490e849f225/tumblr_nj5j329kM61u89c46o1_1280.jpg "A women’s suffrage activist protesting after “The Night of Terror.” [1917]")
