Sources for America’s History: Printed Page 616

P7-3  |Suffragists Bring Battle to the President
Woman Suffrage in Washington, District of Columbia
(c. 1917–1918)

Gender identity was at the heart of the women’s rights movement. Reformers frequently based their arguments for the vote on the notion that women’s gender peculiarly fitted them to contribute to public discussions. In the years leading to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, the National American Woman Suffrage Association led organizing drives, protests, and parades, rallying women as “sisters in the cause” to push for voting rights, even, as shown here, staging vigils at the White House.

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Source: “Woman Suffrage in Washington, District of Columbia,” Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Harris & Ewing, LC-H261-29868.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Question

    What point of view concerning women’s rights does this photograph reveal? Analyze the message these women are expressing. What argument are they making?

  2. Question

    Who was the audience for this photograph? To what extent do you think images like this one were created to aid in the formation of gender identity among women in support of voting rights?