On Monday, March 3, 1913, there was a women's suffrage parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in DC.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Mar 6, 2024, 11:23 AM - Edit history (1)

Parade for women to vote and gain other essential rights, today 1913:

Link to tweet

Credit for the rest of this post, Dark n Stormy Knight

Sat Jan 14, 2017: Women's March on Washington: Inspiration from our 20th Century Suffragist Sisters

Leading up to the march planned for the 21st, let's draw strength, courage, and inspiration from the valiant women who fought for our right to vote.

On Monday, March 3, 1913, lawyer Inez Milholland Boissevain, clad in a white cape and riding a white horse, led the great women's suffrage parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation's capital. Behind her stretched a long procession, including nine bands, four mounted brigades, three heralds, more than 20 floats and more than 5,000 marchers.

https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9803/suffrage.html



Some participants hiked from New York to DC.

Lawyer Inez Milholland Boissevain prepares to lead the Suffrage Parade



Mounted suffragists at the head of the parade as it moves down Pennsylvania Avenue









Foreign intrigue.
Comrade Trump meet Kaiser Wilson. Virginia Arnold holding Kaiser Wilson banner.



Russian Roulette? Suffragettes in Washington, DC, June 1917.



Things did not progress without difficulty in the movement in general nor in the 1913 march, but the women persevered.

Some Southern members of NAWSA argued for the enfranchisement of white women only. In addition, in the suffrage parade of 1913 organized by Alice Paul’s Congressional Union, black women were asked to march in a segregated unit. Ida B. Wells refused to do so, and slipped into her state’s delegation after the start of the parade.

https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/AfricanAmericanwomen.html

The organizers of the parade also maximized attention on the event by strategically hosting it just one day before the inauguration of President-elect Woodrow Wilson. This tactic worked. As the women marched from the U.S. Capitol toward the Treasury Building, they were met by thousands of spectators, many in town for the inauguration.

Not all spectators were kind. Some marchers were jostled, tripped, and violently attacked, while police on the parade route did little to help. By the end of the day, over 100 women had to be hospitalized for injuries.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/03/03/this-day-history-1913-womens-suffrage-parade

A resolution from the Men’s League for Woman Suffrage in King’s County noted that the women in the parade, “many of whom were among the finest intellectual leaders of their sex, were . . . subject to insult, ribaldry, and personal abuse.”

https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2013/03/01/suffrage-and-suffering-at-the-1913-march/

However, the women did not give up; they finished the parade. Their experiences led to major news stories and even congressional hearings. Historians later credited the 1913 parade for giving the suffrage movement a new wave of inspiration and purpose.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/03/03/this-day-history-1913-womens-suffrage-parade

I found a couple of short youtube videos on the subject.

Best Kept Secret: Suffrage in the 20th Century From the Fairfax County Government. In later protests in DC, some of the women were arrested and jailed in Fairfax County, VA. Their treatment was abominable. These women were truly heroic.

Press Coverage- 1913 Suffrage Parade in Washington, DC From the National Women's History Museum. Tells of how conscientious press coverage helped promote the cause of liberty these women were demanding.

Fri Mar 3, 2023: On Monday, March 3, 1913, there was a women's suffrage parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in DC.

Wed Mar 6, 2019, 01:56 PM: 3 March 1913 -The historic women's suffrage march on Washington - Michelle Mehrtens

Wed Mar 6, 2019, 01:55 PM: March 3 1913 The historic women's suffrage march on Washington - Michelle Mehrtens

[SarahD]

1. There is a national park for that, too.

Seneca Falls, New York has a national historical park devoted to the suffrage movement. If you visit, a little background reading and research helps sort out all the details. It is interesting to learn how hard women had to work to achieve what we now take for granted.