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.
Cartoon: ‘The Steadfast Suffragette’. Puck Magazine, US, c.1913. A suffragette on hunger strike in prison becomes so thin, that she manages to squeeze through the bars and escape.
Constance Markievicz - Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, the first woman elected to the Westminster Parliament and the first female cabinet minister in Europe, early 1900s.
One of the specially-designed exhibition spaces in the Bodleian Libraries’ Weston Library is the Treasury, a place we have permanently dedicated to exhibiting some of the most notable, distinctive and impressive items from our collections.
The items on show in the Treasury are changed regularly. At the time of writing, visitors can see the show 21 Pairs and a tropical forest; from 6 March, the hall will be used to host an all-new exhibition: From Sappho to Suffrage: Women who dared.
This new collection of treasures has been timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act, whereby British women over the age of 30 were finally given the right to vote.
There will be a wealth of items on display, spanning two millennia of history and celebrating countless irrepressible, accomplished women and their achievements.
One item you will be able to see in From Sappho to Suffrageisfeatured in the British press today. This is Suffragetto, and it’s the last known copy of an Edwardian board game themed around the violent struggles between suffragettes and the police. This copy was donated to the Bodleian Libraries by board game collector Richard Ballam.
Being both powerfully themed and purely strategic (there are no dice, no deck of cards) modern board game fans might consider Suffragettoto be rather modern. It’s certainly a very engaging game, and suitably provocative.
One player controls the suffragettes, who are attempting to gain access to the House of Commons for their protest. Meanwhile, the other will play as the police, charged with subduing the suffragettes and infiltrating their meeting at the Albert Hall.
Things can get very tense, and not every playing piece will have prevailed once the clash is over. Suffragettowas produced by the British Women’s Social and Political Union with a clear intention of spreading their important messages in a vital, interactive fashion.
“She trained them in jujutsu at secret locations throughout London, and also taught them how to use wooden Indian clubs, which were concealed in their dresses and used as weapons against the truncheons of the police.”
An evening illustration to celebrate #vote100 6 February marked 100 years of (some) women gaining the right to vote in the UK. There was a lantern parade through the centre of Bristol to celebrate the centenary, past the University tower (lit up in suffragette colours), with purple & green trombones playing and enormous suffragette lantern puppets floating over the river of homemade signs - here are some of the people and signs seen on the march
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.
feminism was literally started by “terfs” and the entire basis of its ideology is “terfy”. like without terfs women wouldnt be able to fucking work outside the home
“stonewall my dude” I’m having a stroke
Certified Iconic terf post
Stonewall happened in 1969.
Christine de Pizan’s Book of the City of Ladies protested misogyny and advocated for women’s valued positions in society. It was published in 1405.
In 1776, Abigail Adams was already speaking out against placing full power in the hands of men. She went on to push for women’s suffrage as the second First Lady of the United States.
Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792. She spoke out against the notion that women were suited only for household work and advocated for equal educational opportunities.
In 1848 at the Seneca Falls convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, along with other early feminist advocates, rewrote the Declaration of Independence to include women and signed it.
Frederick Douglass spoke out readily on more than one occasion in favor of female suffrage.
Here’s a female suffragette being arrested by police, dated 1913.
The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, guaranteeing ALL women the right to vote.
But yeah. Where would we be without trans women, right? Throwing the first brick, and all. Even though they didn’t.
“Both Johnson and Rivera denied being the first to fight back against the police during the uprising. In an interview from the 1970s where Johnson recalls the events of the historic night, she confirms “the riots had already started” by the time she arrived at the bar. Similarly, Rivera delivered a speech in 2001, clarifying, “I have been given the credit for throwing the first Molotov cocktail by many historians but I always like to correct it. I threw the second one, I did not throw the first one!” These personal accounts are further complicated by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, who said that she did not see either Johnson or Rivera on the first night of the riots.”
In fact, guess who actually started Stonewall? Right. A butch lesbian, most likely Stormé DeLarverie, who punched a cop after being struck with a baton.
Keep lying.
and for those of you who keep saying “the suffragettes were racist” congrats on showing that you’re chronically online and can parrot whatever twitter has shoved down your throat. the fact is, the early suffragettes were abolitionists and fought alongside Black men for their right to vote. however, Black MEN promptly threw susan b anthony and every other suffragette under the bus and excluded them from the 14th amendment, leaving them disillusioned and upset.
this sets the stage for her famous quote “I would sooner cut off my right hand than ask the ballot for the negro and not for the woman.” in context, this is because Black male abolitionists were campaigning to have the word “white” struck from the constitution altogether, but not the word “male”. essentially, the Black men that were working hand-in-hand with the suffragettes had screwed over women once, by leaving them out of the 14th amendment so that they could get theirs, and now they were about to do it again. therefore, anthony’s quote was not unprovoked, she merely meant to make it clear that she would not support racial justice without also supporting women’s rights.
just had to add this because so many of y’all under this post are incredibly misinformed and lack the ability to detect nuance (probably because you’re like 17, i get it). but if after hearing this context you STILL believe that susan b anthony and her contemporaries were racist, let me ask you this: do you believe that frederick douglass and his Black male contemporaries were sexist? why, or why not?
