By 1913, the women’s suffrage movement needed a shot in the arm. The strategy of lobbying individual states to give women the right to vote had some success, but the movement was having trouble adding more. Alice Paul knew something more dynamic was needed. Women needed to demand the right to vote. She and Lucy Burns organized a march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Paul was a genius at getting publicity. She staged the march on March 3, 1913. That was the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration parade would use the same route. This guaranteed a large crowd and a lot of reporters. The program stated the march’s goal: “We march today to give evidence to the world of our determination, that this simple act of justice be done.” The themes of the parade were beauty, femininity, and traditional roles. But the march also emphasized that women could be equals to men in nontraditional roles, like doctors and lawyers. The marchers included women in groups based on states, professions, and colleges. One group was led by “General” Rosalie Jones and they had hiked from New York City. They covered more than 200 miles in 16 days. Originally, black suffragists were discouraged from participating for fear of alienating Southern politicians, but Paul ended up allowing them, but encouraging them to march at the rear in segregated groups. Ida Wells-Barnett (a muckraker famous for her anti-lynching campaign) waited for her state delegation to pass by and joined it from the crowd. Paul wanted the march to produce visuals. There were bands and floats. Some of the floats highlighted nations that already had women’s suffrage, men and women working together, and great moments in the history of the suffrage movement. The parade was led by “the most beautiful suffragist” Inez Milholland who was a lawyer and activist. She rode on a white horse with a banner proclaiming “Forward into Light”. Between 5-10,000 women marched and the crowd was estimated at 250,000. In the crowd were men who were anti-suffrage. They jeered and some even spit on the marchers. Men decided to stop the parade by blocking the street. The police on duty did nothing to stop this. Over 100 women had to be hospitalized as men assaulted marchers. The US Army had to be brought in to clear the road so the parade could continue. Silent acts of patriotism, civic pride, and the sexes working together were acted out on the steps of the Treasury Department. Speeches were given at Memorial Continental Hall. The march got nationwide coverage in newspapers, mostly because of the harassment. Paul made sure it stayed in the news for days. It was the first large organized political march in Washington. (Coxey’s Army in 1894 was to protest unemployment.) It reenergized the suffrage movement and proved Paul’s tactics worked. She later went on to organize picketing of the White House by the Silent Sentinels. And she went on a hunger strike that resulted in forced feeding when she was imprisoned for it. Shaming men helped get the 19th Amendment passed. In 2026, the $10 bill will have a visual of the march. If it doesn’t get derailed.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/woman-suffrage-procession1913.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman_Suffrage_Procession
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-great-suffrage-parade-of-1913.htm
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