Next, a visit to the Smithsonian National portrait gallery, in the second of a twopart program, historian Kate Clark Lemay gives American History tba guided tour of an exhibit marking the centennial of the 19th amendment using political cartoons and images of suffragists picketing the white house. She explores the National WomensParty Tactics under the leadership of alice paul. Hello. The curator of an exhibit on view, votes for women, on view at the National Portrait gallery at the Smithsonian Institution and i am standing in front of what we call our title treatments. It is a large blowup of hedwig riker, a german born actress. , theas acting as columbia allegorical figure which duringnts United States the finish or conclusion of the 1913 parade in washington, d. C. And that is one event of the long Suffrage Movement this exhibition highlights. Go into124 objects that the long history beginning in 1832 and bringing it right up to 1920. Then also the 19th amendment and what it did not do, which was to enfranchise all women, including men of color. I then took the exhibition up to the Voting Rights act of 1965. So if you will come with me we are going to go explore the 1913 parade, more in depth. We are standing in front of photo postcards of the 1913 parade organized by alice paul. This is a different tactic than what had been done before by other suffragists. What alice paul was trying to do was to create headlines and so she, after spending time in britain, she basically got radicalized by the british suffragettes, and learned how to create attention grabbing spectacles and events. So when she came back to the United States in 1911 and 1912, the,rganized the, with with a congressional union, this parade. Downsuffragists marched from the capital here, at the beginning, down pennsylvania avenue, and so, then they stopped at the Treasury Building which is basically the end of pennsylvania avenue. At the Treasury Building they had a pageant, with lady liberty and her attendance. In between the suffragists had to make their way through 500,000 spectators. That is a huge number. Thisf the problems of parade was that it did not have thece protection, because chief of police and washington, d. C. , was not a friend to suffragists. So he denies them police protection, even though alice paul had applied for a permit. Instead, the secretary of war, who is part of the president ial cabinet, henry l simpson, put the national, what we would think of as the national guard, nearby, at fort myers and virginia. So when the crowd got really unruly and started a sickly manhandling and being very started basically manhandling ending aggressive toward suffragists, that is when the really called in the cavalry from virginia and had that group serve as the protectors of the suffragists. So it was quite dramatic in that sense because suffragists were not expecting these huge crowds. Did upstage president wilson because the next day was his inaugural speech for his first term as president. At almost nobody showed up to his speech. He asked, where is everybody . He was told all of the spectators had come out the day before to see the suffragists. They left, youre right, is official program for womens suffrage. You can see this is one of four existing programs that remain from this parade. You can see how the joan of arc figures, and these purple robes, the color of royalty. She is walking down in front of the capital, presumably pennsylvania avenue, with her trumpet, from which a banner which says votes for women, so she is heralding in this new cause for freedom. Paul, who hade trained for orbit radicalized by the British Suffragette Movement and she brought back those compelling tactics to the United States. She is the next generation of suffragists. She has broken off from the National American womens Suffrage Association led by Ann Howard Shaw and carrie katz. And she is employing needs more attention grabbing tactics like the parade, as well as creating visual culture, like the poster im standing next to. In this case it was a great poster, made by one employed by the Container Corporation of america, a Major Company in the mid century but he was married to a suffragist. I think that was the connection that the husbands of these women out there advocating and being active for the cause, of having clinical boys, they were doing their best to having political voice, they were doing their best to support these women. He incorporated the doubleheaded acts. Worn by thishat, ancient god hermes. It is illustrating she is the divine messenger of equality. The doubleheaded acts, in minoan culture was significant or civilizing the mother goddess. So there is all these different ways that suffragists were trying to communicate these ideas of equality, by reaching back to ancient civilizations, and saying how women have had these rights for all of time. Why not women in American Society as well . Nina l enter was an illustrator and artist who worked and make 200 illustrations like this one, called his district from 1916. Nina ellinger. She worked to help the suffrage caused by creating the depiction of women at work advocating for the cause. They were published in the suffragist, a magazine newspaper, that the womens party produced for years and years. Here we see this young woman, who is very much educating herself by reading about called, campaign textbook. She is beautifully dressed. She has a nice embroidered shirt and it iser hair up, well done. And she is wearing nice shoes. And she is sitting in front of her desk, that is crowded with books. So the books are, list of voters, and it is specific to the map of his district. All of this is to except if i how suffragists were lobbying. To exemplify how suffragists were lobbying. They were the first group to understand what lobbying was and what it entailed and what it meant and how it would gain them political power, through convincing their representatives and the legislators, of whatever his district was. This could apply to any state. So this is part of that statebystate effort, the suffragists were doing. But under the lead of alice paul, they were really interested in the federal amendment. Said they were not asking the statebystate representatives to change their referendum, instead to support an amendment if it were to be passed, what you passed that in the house . T you pass it in the house would you pass it in the house . What you pass it in the senate . Would you convince your fellow legislators to pass it if it goes out for ratification with two thirds, for eradication . For ratification . Ellinger,er nina was educated at the academy of fine arts, a great artist in her own right. So we are excited to get these artifacts on the wall in the exhibition to make sure we understand today how the Suffrage Movement was being taught, in its own way, during the era of the 19teens. Decided toice paul do something even more drastic than marching down pennsylvania avenue. That was to pick at the white picket the white house. This is one of the first group of picketers who are nonviolent who stood up at the white house. And they basically declared their protest of the president , in personal terms. That they would carry banners that said, mr. President , what will you do for womens suffrage . The president being Woodrow Wilson, who had been elected in 1913 and it would carry out to terms as president. And he did not endorse the suffrage cause until 1919. So we have a vassal. A battle. At this point we are in 1915. In 1917 they start to pick at the white house. There are two picket the white house. It is too long years of picketing. Everyday the women would stand outside the white house and hold the silent sentinel as they were referred to by the press. They will either headquarters across Lafayette Square situated in front of the white house. On the other of life yet square was the headquarters of the National Womens party. The other side of Lafayette Square was the headquarters of the National Womens party. Golddid purple, white and as suffrage colors, with alice pauls new group, the National Womens parties. National womens party, around 1913. That is what they did for two years. And stood their ground. They also included, you can see at the top, College Women. They are wearing the banners of which colleges they went to, so they had thematic days, in which College Women would protest. Or different state delegations would protest. Or even working women would protest, too. They would take, working women only had one day off per week from work. So that was sunday. They could not protest unless it was a sunday. So we can talk about the working women here. Title cover of the maryland suffrage news, depicts a woman who was white, who was a seamstress, who has been working for more than eight hours today, which are normal working hours, that are regulated by federal law. There were no laws that regular did working. So working women felt they were being abused. And there were no laws that could protect them. So this woman has basically sewing, and the illustration was made by mary taylor. And it was done for one of the many suffrage chapters across the United States, the maryland suffrage chapter. It is from the collectors of the Maryland Historical society. So, the suffragists were eventually arrested. They were arrested for obstructing traffic, which was not exactly their fault. Male spectators who had come out to jeer at them, who were creating the block, the masses of human bodies who work stock king you are obstructing traffic. But they were arrested. And you can see in the picture are the portrait of the two women. The policemen are holding the banners, confiscating their banners, and the women are most likely not going to pay their fine. Then they would be sentenced to jail, and that washington, d. C. Jail or the lorton workhouse. What i find interesting is that theyre very welldressed. The women who are picketing were from an elite, wealthy background, the majority of them. There were, as i mentioned before, there were working women who would help picket on sundays. And working women were very much a part of the suffrage cause later on. But there were no africanamericans part of this movement, this effort at this point. Because alice paul did not include them. And i wonder if, because they are a vulnerable population, to be arrested, meant that they were putting themselves at a higher risk, even then the privileged white women were. So there is a kind of a balance i think they were striking at this point. Is lizziee there browner, a collegeeducated, a clubby at university. At columbia diversity. And she at columbia university. And she is protesting. Alice paul had been in prison. She is protesting that the government gives paul and other prisoners the privileges of the american political prisoner. The American Government did not treat the suffragists as political prisoners. That treated the suffragists as criminals. This meant that there was poor food, no rating, no privileges. Given to the suffragists when they are imprisoned. So the suffragists picked up on that immediately and credit banners that spoke to that, to point out they created banners to point out that the government have a political activist those privileges. So why didnt the American Government do the same for other political activists in the United States, is the question . You can see another beautiful drawing by nina ellenger. She is likening the suffrage effort, where the women are getting grabbed, and assaulted even, by angry men, she is likening that moment, to training for the draft. 1917, the april, United States entered world war i. This is a major moment for suffrage. Done the suffragists were able to say that they were doing all this effort on the home front. They were serving as nurses and doctors, with the red cross and with their own sufferers units ortheir own suffrage units units supported by the suffragists, and getting involved in the war directly. So why couldnt they have a political voice if they were basically giving up their lives for the United States . Ellingers drawing gets to that where the suffragists are carrying banners that said, democracy begins at home. And other banners that said, mr. President , what we do for suffrage . Meanwhile, these angry men are attacking these white women who are carrying the banners. This is a piece of cotton that in prison suffragists who are arrested for obstructing traffic, during their imprisonment they decided to create their own embroidered signatures. It is not a piece of burlap. It was kind of a record or witness of testimony, to the fact that they were there. And that this happens to them. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] finally, on this while you have to photographs. One of lucy burns in jail. She was with alice paul, one of the leaders of this militant suffrage moment, in the history of the Suffrage Movement. Here, you see the arrest of the suffragists. They are being put into these police wagons, and being carted off to basically get sentenced to jail. 1917 through the end of 1919, the suffragists, led by alice paul, continued to picket outside of the white house. I was interested to see images of the suffragists, almost up close and personal, almost environmental. Because i wanted to emphasize that these were individuals, with their own lives. Spending their time, which we all know is precious, on this important cause. So the video behind me is playing some images of them picketing. They kept up the pressure. By creating the headlines, by crating the spectacle, by creating the spectacle, i think the suffragists finally achieved crating the momentum they were searching for throughout the entire movement. Because the pressure they placed on president Woodrow Wilson was so much, that he finally endorsed the cause. 21,when he did, on may 1919, the amendment that was proposed, actually past the house. And the house of representatives, and then it passed the senate danforth, 1919 the senate on june 4, 1919. At that point it was sent out to the states to get two thirds of them ratifying the amendment which would then become law. This part of the exhibition covers the militant suffragists. That explains why they were doing what they were doing. In the last room we are going to look at the 19th amendment and see what it actually says, and see how women split go voices changed after being granted the right to vote see how womens political voices changed after being granted the right to vote. And also seeing who did not have the right to vote and what they did about it. When women got the right to vote they finally had a political voice and they were voters. So different parties recruited them in different ways. You have Calvin Coolidge running for Vice President along with Warren Harding ran for president , for the Republican Party ticket in november, 1920. This is a broadside from october, 1920, exclaiming to women, for your own good, both farright the Republican Party, the republican ticket. So they are producing all of hemera, andment ep material culture, in the form of a yellow ribbon, and it says, under the 19th clearly it was engaging as the new female voter. And then on the piece of paper where the ribbon was sold, it says souvenir of this greatest event of my life. They really dramatize the act of voting. For some women this was the greatest event of their life. It meant they achieved the first step toward equality. And gaining a more democratic experience as a citizen of the United States through the voting right they have achieved. In the concluding gallery of this exhibition, i wanted to point out the text of the 19th amendment and what it says and doesnt say. It reads the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied by the United States or by any state on account of sex. When you think about the wording of the 19th amendment, nowhere does it say, guaranteed the right to vote. That makes a big difference in achieving the right to vote for everybody. What we think the 19th amendment did and the reality of what it did. In this moment states can still find ways through which to disenfranchise voters. Up to our contemporary moment in 2019 there are states and laws out there seeking disenfranchised voters. They are still contending with the wording of this 19th amendment because it is not as specific as we would like it to be. It wouldnt be until the Voting Rights act of 1965 that things became crystal clear. And that people had the right to vote and guaranteed the right to vote and not be discriminated against based upon their race. Im standing in front of a portrait, who, like other native americans, was forced to attend carlisle boarding school, which created assimilation of native americans by not allowing them to speak their languages. As a result she became bilingual. She understood the culture of h