''The Suffragist'' was a weekly newspaper published by the

Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage was an American organization formed in 1913 led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns to campaign for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women's suffrage. It was inspired by the United Kingdom's suffrage ...

in 1913 to advance the cause of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. The publication was first envisioned as a small pamphlet by the Congressional Union (CU), a new affiliate of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), which in 1917 became the NWP. It evolved into an eight-page weekly tabloid newspaper when the first issue appeared on 15 November 1913. Started by

Alice Paul Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragette, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the foremost leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the Unit ...

with Rheta Childe Dorr as its first editor, its goal was to spread women's political news and to advance movements toward a suffrage amendment. The newspaper gave its publishers an avenue to communicate directly with each other and supporters without mainstream media. In its six years, the publication played an important role in the eventual success of the suffrage movement. ''The Suffragist'' recorded protests and arrests in news accounts and editorials. Along with political cartoons, illustrations, photographs, essays, and poems all served as advocacy devices within the paper. The cover of each issue usually featured a full-page cartoon. Artist Nina Allender drew the vast majority of these. Allender presented a new image of the suffragist as young and physically beautiful, as well as courageous and intelligent. The third page of ''The Suffragist'' featured the text of the proposed federal suffrage amendment and at least one editorial. In 1917, when the

National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NWP ...

(NWP) began picketing the White House and were arrested, the newspaper served as a light to the public on the treatment of these political people. In 1914, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns were its editors, and later in 1917 Edith Houghton Hooker became its official editor. The newspaper ceased publication after the

Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution prohibits the United States and its U.S. state, states from denying the Suffrage, right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex, in effect recogni ...

allowing women to vote was passed. It published its last issue in January 1921. After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919, it regained publication as ''Equal Rights,'' the official National Woman's Party magazine from 1923 until 1954. The magazine served a similar role as ''The Suffragist.'' Still, its focus was specifically on the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...

and other bills affecting women, including protective labor legislation, nationality issues, and jury service. File: Nina E Allender at desk.jpg, Nina Allender, Cartoonist for ''The Suffragist.'' File: Alice Paul (1915) by Harris & Ewing.jpg, Alice Paul, Founder of ''The Suffragist.'' File: DORR, MRS. RHETA C., SUFFRAGIST. WITH FIRST EDITION OF 'THE SUFFRAGIST' LCCN2016865037.tif, Rheta Childe Dorr, First editor of ''The Suffragist.'' File: Lucy Burns 1913.jpg, Lucy Burns, Editor of ''The Suffragist.'' File: Sue S. White 158006v.jpg, Sue Shelton White, Editor of ''The Suffragist'', circa 1920

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suffragist, The Weekly newspapers published in the United States Newspapers established in 1913 Publications disestablished in 1920 Women's suffrage publications in the United States 1913 establishments in the United States 1920 disestablishments in the United States Defunct weekly newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Washington, D.C. Alice Paul National Woman's Party activists

See also

References