Photo above: (Suffragettes Protesting)
Women's Suffrage
See also:
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Keep cool and raise a breeze for suffrage! Above is quoted from a fan promoting suffrage, created in 1915 and used in in the unsuccessful Empire State Campaign. Clearly, the failed campaign demonstrates how people thought fans an ineffective way of protest, forcing them to move on to stronger methods of Civil Disobedience. The mellow "keep cool and raise a breeze" was not enough to hold up the large campaign – women consequently attempted other methods of protest instead. (Woman Suffrage Fan).
The postcard to the left is from 1910. To fight against inequality, one method the women used was distributing postcards like this, showing that they were willing to open conversation about their protests and that they frequently conversed with each other on the topic. Spreading one's opinion through postage was very popular at the time. (Woman's Rights)
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If I woman is as strong as she ought to be she should be called continually to... corporate with men where ever her peculiar gifts are valuable. If she...uses these rights and privileges she does not need the ballot.
- Kate Douglas Wiggin
Even other women disagreed with the suffrage movement; in this quote (1902), Kate Douglas Wiggin explains that if women compromise with men, she will get all the rights she needs. She spoke before a hearing in front of the Committee of Women's Suffrage in the United States Senate, demonstrating that she disagreed with civil disobedience. See full transcript here: Woman suffrage : hearing before the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage
(Woman Suffrage: Hearing)
(Woman Suffrage: Hearing)
Opposers wrote poems like this (to the left) on postcards to counter the pro-suffrage one pictured above. This particular one is from 1916 and circulated among anti-suffrage supporters and shows how they responded to suffrage protests (Anti-Woman Suffrage Postcard).
See also: National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (To the right) Men are protesting suffrage in 1917 by tearing apart a banner; the response to civil disobedience in this period was often a counter-attack. Because of this, the conversation about progressive movements often included plotting revenge, as seen in the men's smiling facing above (Washington "Patriots" ). While most people today cannot fathom why one would oppose the movement, the women and men of the time had reasons justified to themselves.
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Civil Rights Movement
Above is a picture of is a picture of African Americans boarding a segregated bus to protest segregation. This is one of the many forms of civil disobedience used during the civil rights movement. It highlights how civil disobedience doesn't need to be violent or destructive to be illegal. (African American men)
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I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation ... I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." -Martin Luther King jr. Above is a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech. MLK Jr. was a leader of the civil rights movements and organized many acts of civil disobedience, all of them non-violent. Around 250,000 people attended his speech. It shows how even though civil disobedience can be illegal, you can still make a massive, positive difference by doing it.
(King, Martin Luther, Jr.) |
Above is the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It makes illegal to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This is the product of the civil rights movement. It shows how civil disobedience can be used to make a positive, and lasting impact on society.
(Civil Rights Act of 1964)
(Civil Rights Act of 1964)