The Awakening: Women Fight for the Vote

Echoes of today's fight for abortion rights

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The most striking of the "suffrage maps," which played a major role in the successful fight for women's suffrage in the U.S., is Henry "Hy" Mayer's poster titled "The Awakening." (1915) This powerful illustration shows a torch-bearing female labeled "Votes for Women," symbolizing the awakening of the nation's women to the desire for suffrage.

Striding across the western states, where women already had the right to vote, she moves toward the east where women are reaching out to her. The faces of these women, turned up to the light, some reaching out in hope, have fashionably short hair and hats, reflecting the middle and upper-class core of the suffrage movement.

Suffrage victories in Washington, California, and Oregon were followed by hard-fought wins in Arizona, Kansas, Nevada, and Montana. By the end of 1914, more than four million women had voting rights equal to men in eleven states, all in the West, leaving women elsewhere still reaching for the light of Liberty's torch of freedom.

Henry "Hy" Mayer, a German-born artist who was Puck's chief cartoonist at the time, created this illustration. Below the image is a poem by Alice Duer Miller - an active and tireless feminist who produced a substantial volume of "defiant, witty suffrage verse."

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The struggle for women's suffrage was not confined to the United States. Across the Atlantic, in England, the fight was equally vigorous. One notable piece from this movement is Duncan Grant's poster, "Handicapped," published in 1909 by the Artists' Suffrage League. This poster, created to highlight the struggles and the resilience of women fighting for their right to vote, showcases the parallel efforts in England to achieve suffrage.

Duncan Grant, an influential British artist, was a member of the Bloomsbury Group, known for their progressive views on politics and society. The Artists' Suffrage League, which published the "Handicapped" poster, was instrumental in visually communicating the suffrage message through powerful and evocative imagery. Grant's work emphasizes that women's suffrage was a critical issue on both sides of the Atlantic, uniting women in their pursuit of equality and democratic rights.

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Here’s how suffrage opponents fought back

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