It’s 1920, a year of transition. Prohibition begins on January 17th. World War I has taken a horrific toll, and the deadly 1918 flu pandemic continues into April of 1920.
And on August 18, 1920, Tennessee is the last of the necessary 36 ratifying states to secure adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. For many of the 26 million women in the U.S., the 1920 presidential election is their first chance to cast a ballot. There are limitations: African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American women are not fully enfranchised. African American women struggled for suffrage alongside their white compatriots, but the history was not smooth, and it took the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to ensure Black American’s voting rights were protected by law. (Of course the issue of voting rights is still significant in 2020.)
Almost immediately after the passage of the amendment, Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party begin work on the Equal Rights Amendment, which they believe necessary to ensure equality. (The ERA was passed by the Senate in 1972, but was not ratified by enough states.)
Alice Paul toasting (with grape juice) the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Library of Congress photo.
And of course you knew fashion would come into this post eventually.
A celebratory Alice Paul is shown all in white on August 26, 1920. The movement’s colors were purple for loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and gold as a nod to the sunflowers of Kansas where Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton campaigned. (Green, as a symbol of hope, replaced gold in Britain.)
White was strategic: Suffragists had been sharply criticized for looking “intimidating” and “masculine,” and women in demure white dresses, it was thought, would give them a greater chance to be heard. White clothing was something that almost every woman already had, making it a choice that wasn’t difficult to adopt. And in black and white photos of suffrage marches, white stood out. The colors purple and gold were often worn as sashes.
Women's Suffrage envoys from many states brought petitions to Congress. Five thousand women massed on and about the East Steps of the Capitol singing Ethel Smyth's HYMN OF THE WOMEN. May 9, 1914. Harris & Ewing, photographer/Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Shirley Chisholm wore all white in 1968 when she was sworn in as the first Black American woman in the United States Congress. Geraldine Ferraro wore all white in 1984 when she accepted the nomination for Democratic Vice President. Hillary Clinton wore all white to accept the Democratic nomination for President in 2016.
You may recall the 2019 State of the Union address, with Democratic congresswomen wearing white—the history continues.
I’ve picked out the outfit I’d like to have been wearing on this day 100 years ago.
Collection of Jay Thorpe, New York : 1920 Fall. Costume Institute - Digital Collections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
P.S. Whatever color you wear, please don’t let our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers down: VOTE.