The National Endowment for the Arts commemorates how the arts were critical to the ultimate success of the women's suffrage movement--just as they have been critical to countless social and political movements before and since. The arts--from poetry to visual arts to fashion--have a unique ability to serve as a rallying cry, disseminating messages across large audiences, and inspiring us in a way that few other things can.

Suffrage and the Arts re-establishes the central role that artistic women and men-from jewellers, portrait painters, embroiderers, through to retailers of 'artistic' products-played in the suffrage campaign in the British Isles. As political individuals, they were foot soldiers who helped sustain the momentum of the movement and as designers, makers and sellers they spread the message of the campaign to new local, national and international audiences, mediating how suffrage activism was understood by society at large. Published to coincide with the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which granted the vote to women over the age of thirty meeting a property qualification, this edited collection offers a range of new perspectives and readings of the outpouring of creative responses to the campaign. Contributors, who include historians, art historians, curators, museum professionals and suffrage experts, call upon the historiographical developments of the last thirty years, alongside new archival discoveries, to showcase the vibrancy of ongoing research in this area. Throughout, chapters investigate the wider socio-cultural backdrop to suffrage and the women's movement, the difficult choices that were made between professional, artistic aspirations and political commitment, and how institutional and informal networks influenced creative expression and participation in feminist politics. From shining light on the use of portraiture to bolster the cultural cachet of the militant Women's Social and Political Union, uncovering the links between Victorian interior design, enterprise and suffrage, through to questioning the supposed conservativism of women's art institutions during the campaign and in the inter-war era, Suffrage and the Arts is a timely and important collection which will contribute to a number of scholarly fields.

She Votes is an intersectional story of the women who won suffrage, and those who have continued to raise their voices for equality ever since. From the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation to the first woman to wear pants on the Senate floor, author Bridget Quinn shines a spotlight on the women who broke down barriers. This book also honors the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment with illustrations by 100 women artists. • A colorful, intersectional account of the struggle for women's rights in the United States • Features heart-pounding scenes and keenly observed portraits • Includes dynamic women from Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Audre Lorde She Votes is a refreshing and illuminating book for feminists of all kinds. Each artist brings a unique perspective; together, they embody the multiplicity of women in the United States. • From the pen of rockstar author and historian Bridget Quinn, this book tells the story of women's suffrage. • Perfect for feminists of all ages and genders who want to learn more about the 19th amendment and the journey to equal representation • You'll love this book if you love books like Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik; Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl; and Why I March: Images from The Women's March Around the World by Abrams Books.

Art and Suffrage: a biographical dictionary of suffrage artists discusses the lives and work of over 100 artists, each of whom made a positive contribution to the womens suffrage campaign. Most, but not all, the artists were women, many belonging to the two suffrage artists societies the Artists Suffrage League and the Suffrage Atelier. Working in a variety of media producing cartoons, posters, banners, postcards, china, and jewellery the artists promoted the suffrage message in such a way as to make the campaign the most visual of all those conducted by contemporary pressure groups. In the hundred plus years since it was created, the artwork of the suffrage movement has never been so widely disseminated and accessible as it is today, the designs as appealing as they were during the years before the First World War when the suffrage campaign was at its height. Yet hitherto little has been known about most of the artists who produced such popular images. Art and Suffrage remedies this lack and sets their artistic contribution to the suffrage cause within the context of their reanimated lives, giving biographical details, including addresses, together with information on where their work may be seen.

Essential for the study of women’s history, women in the arts, politics and citizenship.

Serves to introduce the suffrage movement as a whole, as well as the associated artists and graphics.

This collection of essays explores the myriad ways in which the women’s suffrage movement in Britain in the nineteenth century and twentieth century engaged with and was expressed through literature, art and craft, music, drama and cinema. Uniquely, this anthology places developments in the constituent arts side by side, and in dialogue, rather than focusing on a single field in isolation. In so doing, it illustrates how creative endeavours in different artforms converged in support of women’s suffrage. Topics encompassed range from the artistic output of such household names as Sylvia Pankhurst and Ethel Smyth, to the recent feature film Suffragette. It also brings to light under-represented figures and neglected works related to the suffrage movement. A wide variety of material is explored, from poems, diaries and newspapers to posters, dress and artefacts to songs, opera, plays and film. Published in the wake of the centenary of many women receiving the parliamentary vote in the UK, this book will appeal to scholars, undergraduate and graduate students, and members of the public interested in the broad areas of women’s history and the women’s suffrage movement, as well as across the arts disciplines.