Part of a series of articles titled Teaching Justice.
Article
Teaching Justice: Anti-Suffrage Postcards
NPS/Joanne Westbrook
Grade Level
This activity is designed for sixth through eighth grade students (ages 11-14)
Anti-Bias Objectives
Identity
Students will express pride, confidence, and healthy self-esteem without denying the value and dignity of other people.
Diversity
Students will:
- express comfort with people who are both similar to and different from them and engage respectfully with all people.
- develop language and knowledge to accurately and respectfully describe how people (including themselves) are both similar to and different from each other and others in their identity groups.
- respectfully express curiosity about the history and lived experiences of others and will exchange ideas and beliefs in an open-minded way.
- respond to diversity by building empathy, respect, understanding, and connection.
- examine diversity in social, cultural, political, and historical contexts rather than in ways that are superficial or oversimplified.
Guiding Questions
Why do people sometimes make fun of others? How have you responded when you've been teased or ridiculed?
Harris & Ewing, photographer. Library of Congress
Anti-Suffrage Strategies
Women working for the right to vote had to respond to those who disagreed and opposed them, known as anti-suffragists. The more successful the suffragists were at convincing people that women should be able to vote, the more organized the anti-suffragists became. In 1911, anti-suffragists who had been fighting against woman suffrage at the state level formed the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS). They published a newspaper called the Woman's Protest which included articles and illustrations. The anti-suffragists argued that if women could vote, they would stop taking care of their homes and families and would become "mannish."
Anti-suffragists often used ridicule to demean women fighting for equality. One way to make fun of the suffragists was through cartoons, which often appeared on postcards. Women suffragists were sometimes pictured as angry, ugly, and violent. Other times, they were shown as frivolous and silly.
The postcard shown above, which we sometimes call "Suffrage Cat," is making fun of the suffragists. It makes as much sense to let cats vote as it does for women to vote, the artist is suggesting. And don't those women whining that they can't vote sound like a bunch of howling cats?
Examine the postcards below:
Ann Lewis Women's Suffrage Collection
Militant Suffragettes
This postcard features a full color illustration of a group of children marching and carrying signs. The girl in the front carries a misspelled sign that reads: "More kandy more jam." Behind her, another girl holds a sign that says: "No more school for us!" The second girl is holding a rope that is looped around the neck of a boy who walks behind her. He wears a sign that reads "Hubbies to be home by 8 P.M." "Hubbies" is an abbrieviation of the word "husbands."
They are walking past a dog that holds a doll in its mouth.
In the early 1900s, cats were often shown in cartoons to represent women and dogs to represent men.
Ann Lewis Suffrage Collection
Queen of the Poll
This postcard was part of a twelve-card series of full-color lithographic postcards opposing woman suffrage. This card, labeled Suffragette Series No. 9, features an illustration of well-dressed woman wearing a "District Leaderess" ribbon. She is standing next to a pole with a series of campaign signs for female candidates.
Read through the signs and find clues about how the idea of women running for office is being mocked. Here are some of the signs:
"Don't vote for Dr. McMoney for Treasurer. Vote for his wife. She has been his treasurer for 40 years."
"Before voting, see Ann Howolde, Boodle-holder of the Committee for the Emancipation of the Weaker Sex from the Other Sex."
"Boodle" is slang for bribe money. To bribe someone is to illegally pay them money to get them to do something. This sign is suggesting that women are bribing voters to vote a certain way.
The suffix -ess at the end of a word, usually to describe a job or occupation, is a way to indicate that the person doing the job is a woman. Many people now avoid using this suffix because it presumes that normally the job would be done by a man.
Ann Lewis Suffrage Collection
Suffragists Attacking a Policeman
This postcard is labeled No. 641, and contains a colorful cartoon illustration of one woman restraining a police officer while another woman hits him with an umbrella.
Sometimes, suffragists resisted and fought back when they were roughly arrested during protests. But the truth is that the women were more likely to face brutal treatment from the police than the other way around.
The Suffragette for Senatoress
This is a postcard by Walter Wellman, who was a famous American journalist and explorer. He led several expeditions to try and reach the North Pole. Although he was never successful, he wrote books about his adventures and was considered very heroic. This postcard is part of a sixteen-card series featuring attractive women attempting to act as men as a way to ridicule the idea of women voting and holding political office. In this illustration, the woman candidate for Senate appears in an evening gown. She is pointing to a letter that outlines her campaign platform, which reads:
"To Whom it may concern:
This is to notify you that I am running for Senatoress on the Suffragette ticket. I believe in a reduction of the tariff on Paris gowns. I believe there should be a cut in sheath gowns. I believe in a reduction of the duties on women. Correspondence solicited from the trusts. I'm just 16. Yours for votes."
"Suffragette" was another word for suffragist, although in America, women found the term demeaning. To add the suffix -ette, like -ess, it to indicate that the person is a woman. But it also means "little."
Vocabulary
demeaning: causing someone to lose respect or dignity
emancipation: the process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions
frivolous: not serious, without purpose or value
lithograph: an image printed from a smooth stone or metal plate
militant: combative and agressive in support of a cause; favoring extreme or confrontational methods
mock: tease or laugh at in a mean way
sheath: a close-fitting dress
solicit: to ask for or try to obtain something
suffrage: the right to vote
suffagist: someone who works for the right to vote, especially for women
tariff: a tax on imported goods
Think About It
- How are suffragists represented in these pictures?
- What do you think the images are saying about men, either in pictures or in words?
- How does this speak to how women were viewed at the time?
- Think about the way women are represented today in advertisements, movies, social media, comics, etc. Can you think of examples of women being ridiculed in the same way as in these postcards?
- How has the representation of women changed in the 100 years since these postcards were distributed?
Additional Resources
NPS Links
Women's Suffrage and the Cat
Suffrage Cat Coloring Page
From Mannish Radicals to Feminist Heroes: Suffragists in Popular Culture article by Allison K. Lange
Anti-Suffragism in the United States article by Rebecca A. Rix
Anti-Suffrage in Massachusetts
In the Press: Women's Suffrage
Other resources
"Nina Pinkard: Anti-Suffragist" video from Alabama Department of Archives and History
Miss Representation documentary directed by Jennifer Seibel Newsome (includes sexualized images of women and girls.)
"Fifty Years Ago, Protesters Took on the Miss America Pageant and Electrified the Feminist Movement" by Roxane Gay, Smithsonian Magazine
Last updated: June 25, 2021