Suffrage colors: Inauguration Day recap

Title

Suffrage colors: Inauguration Day recap

Description

Suffrage colors, a recap! Wasn’t planning to, but I’ve seen some silly myths floating around. So here goes…

YELLOW originated w. 1867 suffrage referendum in Kansas. Local suffragists made cloth ribbons in the color of the state flower yellow caught on as “the distinguishing badge of the woman suffrage army.” It became the official color of the National American Woman Suffrage Assoc.

WHITE dresses became a thing when U.S. suffragists started to hold massive public parades, around 1910.
@aklange1 explained that it was more about publicity than purity: white made the marchers stand out in black and white photographs!

GREEN is rarely associated with US suffragists, though it was used here briefly. It is more evocative in the UK. There, the radical wing most identified with the word “suffragette” used it w/white & purple--for purity, royalty, and hope & “the emblem of spring.”

PURPLE was strongly associated with the radical U.S. suffragists of the National Woman’s Party in the 1910s. It has come to represent women’s suffrage more generally, which would please the Woman’s Party and horrify the more mainstream women of NAWSA.

More? Check out Sarah Gordon’s essay on
Whatever colors they wore, our foremothers would be pleased to see Madam Vice President today. Impatient, but pleased.


#Suffrage100
#Suffragettes

Creator

Daily Suffragist

Date

January 20, 2021

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Citation

Daily Suffragist, “Suffrage colors: Inauguration Day recap,” Daily Suffragist, accessed March 29, 2024, https://dailysuffragist.omeka.net/items/show/550.

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