The 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession: A Lesson for The Magic Sash, Episode 6

Inez Milholland leads the Woman Suffrage Procession, 1913. Library of Congress.

About this lesson

This lesson goes with Episode 6, "The Procession," of The Magic Sash, a podcast made by the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, the National Park Service, public media organization PRX and Gen-Z Media. In the episode, time travelers Lotty and Isaiah land at the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C., where they find their friend Florence, now elderly and still waiting for a constitutional right to vote — and wonder about taking "Granny Flo" with them. Listen to Episode 6.

Guiding question: how should a group decide who or what best represents its ideas and goals — and how can it make sure those decisions are fair to every member?

Students will:

• summarize why the 1913 procession mattered;
• name some of its organizers and leaders and their roles;
• design a banner or float for their state's marchers and explain its symbols and words.

The people

President Woodrow Wilson, 1913. Library of Congress.

• Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921): the 28th president, a Democrat and a leader of the Progressive movement, which sought to reform government, industry and society. He had led Princeton University and been governor of New Jersey. Early on he did little for suffrage and was picketed by the Silent Sentinels at the White House gates; later he said women's contributions in World War I had convinced him they deserved full voting rights.
• Inez Milholland (1886–1916): a suffragist and lawyer, best known for leading the procession on a white horse, in flowing white, as the "New Woman" of the 20th century; an activist for women's rights and other social causes.
• Alice Paul (1885–1977): a leader of the women's rights movement who helped found the National Woman's Party in 1916. After Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton died, she shifted the movement from winning the vote state by state to demanding a constitutional amendment.
• Ida B. Wells (1862–1931): a journalist, civil rights activist and suffragist, born enslaved in Mississippi. She learned to read and write in schools her parents helped start for freed people, published newspapers on race and politics, and in 1913 helped found Chicago's Alpha Suffrage Club. Told to march at the back, she refused.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, 1917. Library of Congress.

Words to know: a procession is a formal line of people or vehicles moving together, a parade; an inauguration, the ceremony putting someone into office; a compatriot, a fellow citizen or colleague; anti-suffragists, people who thought women should stay out of politics; ratification, formal approval, usually by vote.

Where it happened

The United States in 1913. Alaska, a territory, also had full women's suffrage; Hawaii did not. The Supreme Court had ruled the Constitution did not apply in American Samoa, Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. NPS.

The procession's route through Washington. NPS.

Map questions: find the star marking Washington, D.C.; count the states and the territories; how many states, and how many territories, let women vote? More: women's suffrage by state.

The procession

On March 3, 1913 — the day before Wilson's inauguration — thousands of women marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, along the route of the next day's inaugural parade. Many could not legally vote in their states or territories, and they wanted the country and the world to see that women had the right, as citizens, to voice their political views at the ballot box. This was the Woman Suffrage Procession.

• Organizers: Alice Paul and Lucy Burns wanted to replace the state-by-state strategy with a push for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the vote regardless of sex — and for full equal rights, not only suffrage.
• The lead: Inez Milholland, a young lawyer, speaker and activist, rode at the front on a white horse, dressed in white.
• The design: marchers grouped by home state or by professional and academic organizations, with banners, floats and bands playing patriotic songs — all to show women's accomplishments and win over the crowd.
• The color line: organizers wanted African American women at the rear instead of with their states. Leaders such as Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell refused, joining their state delegations or university groups in the main procession.

A political cartoon from 1913. New York Heritage Digital Collection.

The crowd: police failed to control the huge crowds, who spilled into the street and blocked the marchers. Many men jeered, telling the women to go home to their husbands and kitchens, and police did little. The women locked arms and pushed forward; after about an hour the U.S. Army sent troops to clear the street, and Boy Scouts held back the crowd and gave first aid.

The result: the march ran long, but it made headlines, Congress investigated the police, and — above all — it drew attention to the movement and its new aim of a constitutional amendment.

Think about it

• Why would the organizers put a young, attractive lawyer in white on a white horse at the front? What did Inez Milholland stand for?
• Why do you think they wanted African American women at the back? Did they see them as the "New Woman" the way they saw Milholland? Was that fair?

Activity: design your state's banner or float

The plan for the March 3, 1913, procession. Library of Congress.

The procession marked a turning point: activists widened their goal to full equality, and switched strategy to a constitutional amendment. Organizers showcased women's professions and degrees, and chose young, attractive white women to make their case — women of color did not fit that picture of the "New Woman" and were told to march at the rear.

Imagine you are planning your state's delegation. Draw a banner or float to march behind, and write a short paragraph explaining your choices:

• What should spectators learn about your state? What makes its women important to the movement?
• Which symbols and words best carry your message?
• Who will march behind your banner or float?
• For a float, what vehicle or wagon would you build on — could it say something about your state or your message?

Sources

Based on "The Magic Sash, Episode 6: 'The Procession' Lesson Plan," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The podcast and its transcript, produced with PRX and Gen-Z Media, are summarized, not reproduced, and so is the series banner; the lesson's links to related places are left out.