Today in Womens History: May 2 1914 women all across the country participated in Suffrage Day demonstrations. 100 years ago today, women who couldnt vote nonetheless flexed their political muscle across the country. May 2, 1914 was designated Suffrage Day by the Congressional Union, a day for women nationally to demand passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing them the right to vote. In over 1,000 cities and towns, women paraded, spoke out, and demonstrated for equal suffrage in the first truly national action. Suffragists marched in Baltimore, staged a huge parade in Hartford, rallied at the state capitol in Richmond, and filled the streets in Boston, Minneapolis, Wilmington, Cleveland, Chicago and New York City. A week after the nationwide demonstrations, several thousand women representing each of the 531 Congressional districts marched to the Capitol in Washington D.C. and presented their petitions demanding passage of the suffrage amendment. Women kept the pressure on politicians until 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified and women finally won political power in the U.S. For more information, see Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement by Robert P. J. Cooney, Jr. (available from nwhp.org). The first 2 pictures are of demonstrations in Boston. courtesy of the Smithsonian. The second two pictures are of the parade in Washington DC courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 11:37:09 +0000
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