The Original Women's March

The Original Women's March

The 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession really was the original Women’s March. It called women from around the country to Washington, DC for Inauguration Day. They were there to send a message to the newly elected President, who won his office with a minority of national support.🧵

It wasn’t the first parade down the avenues of our 51st state, but it was the first civil rights protest. As Rebecca Boggs Roberts says in her overview of the march, every cause that has marched on Washington literally followed in their footsteps. https://t.co/jfbzYFjszU

Alice Paul & Lucy Burns get credit and blame for nearly every detail of the elaborate planning, its genius as well as its racist exclusions. Two documents @LibraryCongress displayed in their lavish exhibit “Shall Not Be Denied” that capture some of the massive planning effort.👇

First, a photo of women leafleting on the street in DC to advertise the march. For so much of the suffrage movement we can only imagine events, not see them. After the turn of the century we begin to have action shots of suffragists at work, which are thrilling.

Second, a Pledge to March form, with logistics like timing for special suffrage trains from New York. And at the top,

WHY YOU MUST MARCH

*Because this is the most conspicuous and important demonstration that has ever been attempted by suffragists in this country.

*Because this parade will be taken to indicate the importance of the suffrage movement by the press of the country and the thousands of spectators from all over the United States gathered in Washington for the Inauguration.

*Because by marching in Washington you will help the cause of votes for women in every State were suffrage has not yet been won. #Suffrage100 #CenturyofStruggle 

Daily Suffragist

01/07/2020

The Great Suffrage Parade of 1913