portraits in courage

The National Woman’s Party, representing the militant wing of the suffrage movement, utilized open public demonstrations to gain popular attention for the right of women to vote in the United States. Their picketing, pageants, parades and demonstrations—as well as their subsequent arrests, imprisonment and hunger strikes—were successful in spurring public discussion and winning publicity for the suffrage cause. Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party presents images that depict both this broad range of tactics as well as individual portraits of organization leaders and members.









The photographs span from about 1875 to 1938 but largely date between 1913 and 1922. They document the National Woman’s Party’s push for ratification of the 19th Amendment as well as its later campaign for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, which was never ratified. This online presentation is a selection of 448 photographs from the approximately 2,650 photographs in the Records of the National Woman’s Party collection, housed in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.








The National Woman's Party was one of the most important national suffrage organizations in the United States as well as a leading advocate for women's political, social and economic equality throughout much of the 20th century. An offshoot of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the party was instrumental in achieving passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment, which extended suffrage to women nationally on Aug. 26, 1920.







:american memory from the library of congress, women of protest