“I would love to see a visual representation of the effort that went into ultimately securing women the right to vote. My submission lists the numbers that would form the basis of the visual representation (that hopefully someone with a more artistic sense can design!).”
I was inspired by this quote from Carrie Chapman Catt in 1940:
To get the word male in effect out of the constitution cost the women of the country fifty-two years of ceaseless campaign thereafter. During that time they were forced to conduct fifty-six campaigns of referenda to male voters; 48- campaigns to persuade Legislatures to submit suffrage amendments to voters; 47 campaigns to persuade State Constitutional Conventions to write woman suffrage into State Constitutions; 277 campaigns to persuade State party conventions to include woman suffrage planks; 30 campaigns to persuade presidential party conventions to adopt woman suffrage planks in party platforms, and 19 campaigns with 19 successive Congresses. Millions of dollars were raised, mainly in small sums, and expended with economic care. Hundreds of women gave the accumulated possibilities of an entire lifetime, thousands gave years of their lives, hundreds of thousands gave constant interest and such aid as they could. It was a continuous, seemingly endless, chain of activity. Young suffragists who helped forge the last links of that chain were not born when it began. Old suffragists who forged the first links were dead when it ended.
You’re invited to inspire America’s newest landmark. We want to hear from YOU! Contribute your ideas today and have a voice in the design of the Women's Suffrage National Monument.
