The Militant Woman

Suffragists used a new imagery that was neither type nor stereotype. They represented woman with female heroes from history, allegory and myth. These images offered a new position for femininity. Women could be other than a true woman or her opposite - the sexually deviant or criminalized hysteric.

Joan of Arc provided a female hero for the ‘holy crusade’ of the suffrage movement. Using imagery of Joan of Arc and other allegorical figures, suffragists claimed a position of moral virtue.  A woman’s body signified an evangelical ideal when adorned with armor, swords, banners, trumpets, and other allegorical symbols such as sandals and classical robes. She became the spirit of militant womanhood on a holy crusade for righteousness.


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Official Program - NAWSA Pageant, Washington, D.C. March 3, 1913. 
 
A woman in elaborate medieval attire evokes the age of chivalry. She rides a white steed dressed for battle toward the U.S. Capitol. Her cape billows as she blows a long horn draped with a "Votes for Women" banner. Her bugle call awakens the nation's capitol to woman suffrage's holy crusade for the vote. A heroic woman, she is willing to sacrifice for a cause.

                                                                                     -Pro-suffrage program cover

Official program - Woman Suffrage Procession, Washington, D.C. March 3, 1913. Photomechanical Print. American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.12512

Inez Milholland Boissevain on White Horse, NAWSA Pageant, Washington, D.C. March 3, 1913.  

Astride a white horse and wearing a flowing white cape, Inez Milholland Boissevain waits. As herald, she sits ready to lead the March 3, 1913, NAWSA pageant in Washington, D.C.  Beautiful and wearing white to show her purity, Miss Boissevain signifies a virtuous maiden warrior.

                                                                                               -Suffrage photograph

Inez Milholland Boissevain, wearing white cape, seated on white horse at the National American Woman Suffrage Association Pageant, March 3, 1913, Washington, D.C. Photograph. George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/97510669/

Columbia

An allegorical figure in a play, Columbia, advances from the U.S. Treasury steps. Carrying an eagle-topped spear, she symbolizes America. She wears an armored bodice over a flowing white skirt, a plumed helmet, and a flowing American flag cape. A figure of militant womanhood, she is still feminine.


                                                                                               -Suffrage photograph
 

German actress Hedwig Reicher wearing costume of "Columbia" with other suffrage pageant participants standing in background in front of the Treasury Building, March 3, 1913, Washington, D.C. National Woman Suffrage Pageant. Photograph. George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/97510759/

Suffragettes with Flag

Suffrage hikers in long coats and distinctive suffrage hats pose. They are, left to right, suffrage hikers General Rosalie Jones, Jessie Stubbs, and Colonel Ida Craft. Women walked on pilgrimages to deliver suffrage petitions to politicians. Hiking gained publicity for the suffrage cause and drew on crusade and military symbolism.

                                                                                               -Suffrage photograph

Suffragettes with Flag. Creator(s), Bain News Service. Circa 1910-1915. Photograph. George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ggb2004010997/

Giddap! 

A friendly farmer traveling in a wagon on a country road stops to offer a group of five young suffrage hikers a ride. In the caption, the friendly farmer asks, "Can't I give ye a lift, girls?"  The Suffragette General responds, "You can, sir, by voting for the cause!"

                                                                                  -Pro-suffrage political cartoon

Giddap! Artist, Grant, Gordon. Photomechanical print. Published in Puck Magazine, March 14, 1914. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2011649801/

Two's Company, Three's a Crowd! 

An allegorical woman wears sandals, classical garb, and a yellow "Votes for Women" drape. She holds a paper labeled "the ballot." As she parts a curtain, she sheds light on the dark realm of male politics. Two men labeled "Honest Graft" and "Political Boss" huddle over a moneybag labeled "Corruption Fund". 

                                                                                -Pro-suffrage  political cartoon

Two's company three's a crowd! Artist, U. J. Keppler. Photomechanical print. Published in Puck Magazine, Feb. 28, 1914, centerfold. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2011649674/

The Awakening

An evangelical savior, a classically garbed woman strides confidently across the United States map. Dressed in suffrage gold with a long cape flowing behind, this woman is on a crusade. She holds high the torch as she brings light to her enslaved sisters in the Eastern states.

                                                                                 -Pro-suffrage political cartoon

The Awakening. Artist, Henry Mayer. Photomechanical print. Published in Puck Magazine Feb. 20, 1915. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98502844/

Pennsylvania on the Picket Line

Fourteen militant suffragists stand in a picket line, using their bodies to crusade for justice. They stand in front of the White House on a misty winter day in 1917. Each wears a sash over her coat and holds a suffrage banner. One banner reads: "Mr. President How Long Must Women Wait For Liberty". 

                                                                                               -Suffrage photograph

Pennsylvania on the Picket Line. 1917. Photograph. Photographer, Harris & Ewing. Records of the National Woman's Party, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mnwp.160022

Just like Joan of Arc. The anti-suffragist has a "vision" of her duty. 

In parody, an anti-suffragist is offered a sword to do battle with the suffragists. On the sword is printed, "Woman's Place is in the Home." The sword suggests the ideology anti-suffragists must use to keep suffragists out of politics and in their proper place, the home. Anti-suffragists’ partners in this quest are corrupt politicians.

                                                                                -Anti-suffrage political cartoon

Just like Joan of Arc. The anti-suffragist has a "vision" of her duty. Artist unknown. Lithograph. Published in Puck Magazine, Oct. 16, 1915. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002720393/