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Suffragists kept spreading their message. They spoke all over the country.
They published many magazines and books. They built alliances with other groups. They also asked Congress to help. But it wasn’t easy to win the vote. After all, they didn’t have the most powerful weapon of democracy—the right to vote. But as Susan B. Anthony said on her 86th birthday, talking about other suffragists, “...with such women consecrating [dedicating] their lives, failure is impossible!”
◀ In 1909, 20,000 female garment workers went on strike in New York City. Seven hundred were arrested. Many rich women supported them. The strike was important. It helped unite the mostly middle-class women of the suffrage movement with the working-class women of the labor movement. Here, Jewish garment workers carry signs to get rid of child labor. They believed it was slavery.
◀ Drunken husbands made many women’s lives rough. In the 1800s, a temperance movement began. Temperance means “moderation” or “self-control.” But the temperance movement really wanted to stop the sale of liquor. The women’s suffrage movement and the temperance movement were often allies. But that created problems. The liquor industry fought against women’s suffrage. It was afraid that female voters would pass laws against drinking.
Some women tried acting as if they did have the right to vote. In 1872, Susan B. Anthony led a group of women who registered and voted in Rochester, New York. Three weeks later, she was arrested for voting illegally. At her trial, the judge refused to let Anthony speak. He also told the jury to find her guilty without even talking about it. Then he fined her $100. She refused to pay. ▶
◀ After the Civil War, American society became more segregated. Some white suffragists were afraid of making southern women angry. They were also afraid of making congressmen mad, because they needed those votes. African-American suffragists had to form their own groups. But some insisted on integration. Reformer-journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett was one of them. In 1913, African-American suffragists were told to march at the end of a parade. So, Wells-Barnett waited on the sidewalk until a group from Illinois came by. She slipped between two white women. Then she marched the rest of the way with them.
Both men and women fought against women’s suffrage. Some said it would take women away from their home and family. Others said it would take them away from other reform movements. Women led most antisuffrage organizations. Big business also helped antisuffrage groups. Businessmen were afraid that female voters would support reforms. Reforms might add to the costs of doing business.
◀ The British women’s suffrage movement began around 1865. In 1881, some Scottish women won the right to vote in local elections. But they still couldn’t vote in bigger, national elections. Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia, led the movement. When they were arrested for demonstrating, they chose imprisonment over fines. They went on hunger strikes. That led to forced feedings, beatings, and other rough treatment. In 1918, Britain gave the vote to certain women over 30. In 1928, it gave the vote to all women over 21.
