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Suffrage and Anti-suffrage Postcards
Imagine the first decade of the 1900s - a time with no e-mail and the
telephone still a novelty. But a time when an interesting form of communication
- the postcard - was experiencing it's "Golden Age." During the
struggle for women's rights these postcards were a major means of advocating
both for and against "woman suffrage." Pictured here are a few
facsimiles of the suffrage movement postcards from the early 1900s.
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In 1909 a set of comic postcards about Women's Suffrage
was produced that included this "Suffrage Madonna" and the "Uncle
Sam, Suffragee" shown below.
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The four stars in the blue field on this card represent
the first four states to pass women's suffrage - Wyoming, 1890, Colorado,
1893, Utah, 1896, and Idaho, 1896.
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The writing in the lavendar ribbon across the bottom of
the cards in this series reads "an ounce of
prevention precedes a pound of coercion." The shield in the
top corner has a blot on it and reads "The ballot
is denied to women." Under the shield is printed "a
blot on the escutcheon."
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Rose O'Neil, most famous for her "Kewpies" drew
several cards and since she was a suffragette herself, all of her cards
were pro-suffrage.
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The mottos and caricatures were strong both for and against
suffrage as indicated by the Uncle Sam in a skirt and by the message that
"Any MAN who denies that WOMAN is not his equal
mentally simply casts a slur on his MOTHER."
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In March of 1913 the National Woman Suffrage Association scheduled a
parade march from the Capitol to the White House to coincide with the inauguration
of President Wilson. Tens of thousands showed up and the U.S Cavalry had
to be mustered to escort the marchers. This event was depicted on early
photographic postcards.
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Images of the above
postcards courtesy of Barbara A. Wilson
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