Women's Suffrage

Silk, 1914 - 1917

65 in x 67 in

Suffragists from the National Woman’s Party made smaller versions of the banner used on the 1913 parade’s first float. These "Great Demand" banners were used in demonstrations and rallies and at suffrage headquarters. Marie Gilmer Louthan carried this one in suffrage parades. Source  https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1371103

Three National Woman's Party members with "Wage Earners" banner during the dedication ceremonies for the Alva E. Belmont House, 1922. Photo: Library of Congress. 

Article:

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/08/women-suffrage-vote-19th-amendment-suffragists

Women picket the White House in 1917, demanding full access to voting rights.

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs DivisionSource: https://www.nps.gov/articles/womens-suffrage-wwi.htm

The Belmont-Paul House, as it is more simply known, has stood on Capitol Hill for almost 220 years. It is a stone’s throw away from the Capitol itself. In 1929 the National Woman’s Party (NWP), an organization integral to the passage and ratification of the 19th amendment, bought the gracious brick house on Maryland Avenue and Second Street NE to use as headquarters. Today it is home to the NWP’s collections and its exhibit detailing the fight for women’s suffrage.   

One circa June 1917 banner framed in the hallway declares “THE YOUNG ARE AT THE GATES.” This draws on a longer passage by NWP member Lavinia Dock with which reform-minded youths today may well identify.

“What is the potent spirit of youth? Is it not the spirit of revolt, of rebellion against senseless and useless and deadening things? Most of all, against injustice, which is of all stupid things the stupidest? …The old stiff minds must give way. The old selfish minds must go. Obstructive reactionaries must move on. The young are at the gates!” 

More to read and see on website. 

Link below:

https://dchistory.org/the-young-are-at-the-gates-a-look-inside-the-belmont-paul-womens-equality-national-monument/