Seeing Suffrage

On March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson s inauguration, leaders of the Americansuffrage movement organized an enormous march through the capital that served as an importantsalvo on the long road to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Coinciding with thewidespread rise of photography in daily newspapers and significant shifts in journalism, theparade energized a movement that had been in the doldrums for nearly two decades. In "Seeing""Suffrage," James G. Stovall combines a detailed account of the parade with more than 130photographs to provide a stunning visual chronicle of one of the most pivotal moments in thestruggle for women s rights.

Although the women s suffrage movement was sixty-five years old by 1913, the beliefthat women should vote was still controversial. Reactions to the march a dazzling spectacleinvolving between five thousand and eight thousand participants ranged from bemusement toresistance to violence. The lack of cooperation from the Washington police force exacerbatedconflicts along the route and, ultimately, approximately one hundred marchers and participantswere injured. Although suffrage leaders publicly expressed disgust at the conduct of the crowdand police, privately they were delighted with the turn of events, taking full advantage of theincreased media coverage by repeatedly tying the unruly mob and the actions of the police tothose who opposed votes for women.

The 1913 procession stands as one of the first political events in American history stagedin great part for visual purposes. This revealing work recounts the march from the planningstages to the struggle up Pennsylvania Avenue and showcases the most interesting andinformative photographs of that day. Although supporters needed seven more frustrating years toratify the Nineteenth Amendment, the Washington Suffrage Parade of 1913 can, as this bookdemonstrates, rightly be seen as the moment that forced the public to take seriously the effort tosecure the vote for women."