On a Saturday in 1914, May 2, governors across America proclaimed National Suffrage Day. A "suffrage army" of thousands upon thousands of women and men celebrated from coast to coast with rallies; pageants; open air speeches; mass meetings; and parades with marchers in Chicago wearing white "suffrage bonnets" with the word Illinois "fluttering on streamers.” In Minnesota, a group of women wearing yellow hats walked two days to march
in St. Paul, the capital. Suffragists on horseback joined parades. And there were automobiles—200 in New York City—festooned with "Votes for Women" flags, bunting, and huge yellow pompoms. In Hartford, CT, Ethel Murray as Joan of Arc led the parade (first image). All for the purpose of demanding that the U. S. Congress enfranchise women! "We are a
force in life, a factor which must be considered," declared Jeannette Rankin, who would would become the first
woman elected to Congress. The second image depicts the wide spread societal fears that suffrage would lead to women invading male spaces and professionals.
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