4. votes for women in the USA| background| early strategy| 1913-20| african-american women & suffrage

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    1. 19th century background
    2. Early Strategy
    3. Tactics & Actions, 1913-20
    4. African-American Women & Suffrage

   Women's Suffrage in Great Britain




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Pre industrial Revolution

Researching Women's history | Medieval Women | 17th & 18th century | Witches & Witchcraft

19c - Industrialisation & Emancipation

(a) Great Britain: Social position | Work | Emancipation movements
(b) USA: Work | Emancipation movements | African-american women

Suffrage Movement in Gt Britain

Women in Totalitarian States:

Stalin's Russia | Nazi Germany | Fascist Italy Communist China

20th century: the impact

Women & Modern War | Women in Art & Science | Women in the Developing World | Women's Issues | Girls and Education

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1. The 19th century background

Go to casahistoria Women's 19th century history page for the historical & social context.

For general background and links to the suffrage movement in Great Britain go to the casahistoria Women's Suffrage in Great Britain site.

Women and Work in Early America From the late colonial period through the American Revolution, women's work usually centred on the home, but romanticizing this role as the Domestic Sphere came in the early 19th century. An article by Jone Johnson Lewis, Women's History Guide

Women in America: Occupations Travellers to America in 1820-1842 describe women's occupations, providing insight into the status and roles of women.

Women and Finance in the Early National U.S. An extensive survey by Robert E. Wright, U. of Virginia, on women as business owners, loan recipients, investors or otherwise involved in financial issues and the workforce in the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Woman's right to labor, or, Low wages and hard work Caroline Wells Healey Dall's 1859 lectures on women and work. Graphic original facsimile format for the pages. Requires patience to load!

The Long Road to Suffrage From Seneca Falls to the 1920s: a concise but well linked overview of the woman suffrage movement. An about.com article from Jone Johnson Lewis

Political Culture and Imagery of American Woman Suffrage Virtual National Museum of Women's History with an extensive narrative of the suffrage movement illustrated with images.

One Hundred Years toward Suffrage: An Overview to 1923 Compiled by E. Susan Barber with additions by Barbara Orbach Natanson. Extensive timeline from National American Woman Suffrage Association

Susan B. Anthony From about.com One of the best-known campaigners in the international and American suffrage movement. Includes many additional links.



2. Early Strategy

Links to document supported articles from Spartacus Educational on: Campaigners for Women's Rights; Women Artists and the Campaign; Campaigning Organizations and Male Supporters of Women Suffrage

Suffrage Songs and Verses Pro-suffrage poems from Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Suffrage Strategy, NAWSA, 1901 Report on the convention of the NAWSA and its attempts to better organize the suffrage campaign.

The South and Woman Suffrage Address by Belle Kearney, Mississippi's famous orator, to the NAWSA Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1903

Considering Woman Suffrage A Life editorial from 1905 considering woman suffrage from both sides, plus its conclusion.

To the Teachers of Wisconsin An essay, circa 1912, arguing that teachers, who educate male students to cast ballots, ought to themselves be allowed to vote. includes many other contemporary views



3. Tactics & actions, 1913-20

Alice Paul's Fight for Suffrage School site from PBS' history site for middle school students, an article and reading list about the last years of the American struggle to win the vote for women.

1913 Inauguration Disrupted by Parade and Attacks An article by Jone Johnson Lewis, Women's History Guide, of women demonstrations at 1913 inauguration. Well linked.

Addams, Jane: Why Women Should Vote A 1915 suffrage pamphlet authored by the social reformer and settlement house founder, Jane Addams. Modern History SourceBook

Suffragists Lose Fight in the House: 1915 A reprint of the New York Times article (with text transcribed) January 12, 1915, detailing the loss of the suffrage amendment in the United States Congress. Includes statements from those who opposed the suffrage amendment and extended comments by Christabel Pankhurst.

Suffragists' Storm Over Washington Wartime Washington dealt brutally with imprisoned suffragists who dared picket the White House for the right to vote in 1917. William and Mary Lavender, American History magazine, describe events

National Woman's Party An article on the split from the National American Women's Suffrage Association, led by Alice Paul, emphasizing the history of the Texas branch which was founded in 1916.

New York City Campaign A factual history of the 1915 and 1917 suffrage campaigns (with statistics) in New York City. UCLA -no authorship credited

NAWSA Convention, 1917 On the change of focus in the middle of World War

What lobbying tactics did suffragists use to obtain Congressional approval of a Woman Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, 1917-1920? Well supported introductory article § (from Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000. Unfortunately this site has made most articles & sources subscription only. Hence the Wayback links here)

Why Women Should Vote: Historical Perspective An editorial from the Hearst Newspapers, written by Arthur Brisbane. Not dated, but probably about 1917.

Women Suffragists and Partisan Politics, New York, 1919-1926 Well supported introductory article from Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 § (from Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000. Unfortunately this has made most articles & sources subscription only. Hence the Wayback links here)

Jailed for Freedom extract from (1920), Doris Stevens, Jailed for Freedom, when she remembers spending time in jail with Alice Paul.

Nineteenth Amendment From the US National Archives, a reproduction of the actual signed 19th Amendment, with a very brief outline of the struggle to win the vote for women.

August 26, 1920: The End of the Battle Finally, the long battle for the vote for women was won when a young legislator voted as his mother urged him to vote. An about.com article from Jone Johnson Lewis

Voices of 1920 Heard Today From the 1920s to the 1970s to today. Interviews edited by Jone Johnson Lewis. Extensive archive of oral history from some of the women who made history happen, winning the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Woman Suffrage in Political Cartoons Small selection from the famous Puck, America's first successful humour magazine. From the US National Women's History Museum.

The Struggle for Women's Suffrage Selected Images From the Collections of the Library of Congress. A good selection

Votes for Women in pictures US Library of Congress

Men on US women campaigners

How It Feels to Be the Husband of a Suffragette Facsimile of amusing, supportive pamphlet (circa 1915), by an anonymous male writer. Not all that easy to navigate however.

Mark Twain: Votes for Women 1901 speech by Mark Twain declaring himself a "womens rights man".

From Suffrage to Women's Liberation "Feminism in 20th Century America." Published in "Women: A Feminist Perspective" ed. by Jo Freeman, who argues that in reality we are now in the third wave of female activism, and the first wave of feminism.



4. The Suffrage movement and African Americans

Suffering Suffragettes - W.E.B. duBois about.com. This article originally appeared in the June 1912 issue of The Crisis, a journal considered one of the leading forces in the New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance, addressing a failure on the part of the National American Woman Suffrage Association to support a resolution condemning the Southern disenfranchisement of African Americans, in law and in practice.

Black Women: Sent to the Back highlights the racism within the movement as shown in the 1913 inauguration protest parade

Two Suffrage Movements - Martha Gruening This article originally appeared in the September 1912 issue of The Crisis. It addresses the historical ties of the suffrage movement to the anti-slavery movement and regrets the later move away from defending racial justice. Martha Gruening, a white woman, worked for such causes as racial justice and peace.

100 Most Fascinating Black Women of the 20th Century From Ebony 1999: a list of 100 Black American women. Contains many references to African American Suffrage campaigners

The Double Task: The Struggle of Negro Women for Sex and Race Emancipation by Elise Johnson McDougald. Published in the Survey Graphic Harlem Number (March 1925).

Single-sex Schools: A Good Idea Gone Wrong?

Teacher Education and Textbooks: The Unfinished Revolution

An Education Primer to the Gender War

Gender Equity: Still Knocking on the Classroom Door

For general background and links to the suffrage movement in Great Britain go to the casahistoria Women's Suffrage in Great Britain site.



the casahistoria Women's History sub-sites:

Early Women's history: Pre industrial Revolution

Researching Women's History | Medieval Women |
17th & 18th century | Witches and Witchcraft

19c - Industrialisation & Emancipation

(a) Great Britain: Social position | Work | Emancipation movements
(b) USA: Work | Emancipation movements | African-american women

Suffrage Movement in Gt Britain

Suffrage Movement in the USA

Women in Totalitarian States:

Stalin's Russia | Nazi Germany | Fascist Italy | Communist China

20th century: the impact

Women & Modern War | Women in Art & Science |

Women in the Developing World | Women's Issues | Girls and Education



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