From the National Women's History Museum in Alexandria, Virginia, comes this online exhibit about the the women's suffrage movement. The exhibit features a number of fascinating primary documents, including posters, political cartoons, photographs, and more. Collectively, these items illustrate how women's suffrage proponents utilized popular notions about the sphere of femininity and motherhood in order to advocate for women's rights. In one 1911 cartoon, a woman is portrayed as cleaning the "dirty pool of politics" with the aid of the ballot. Meanwhile, a 1915 poster portrays a woman serving as a nurse, working at a factory, and scrubbing a floor. The poster notes that it "doesn't unsex her" to perform these duties, why should voting pose a threat to her femininity? This collection also highlights some of the divisions within the women's suffrage movement between the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Women's Party (NWP).
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