In March, the window theme for our Odd Fellows Lodge on Castro Street was Women’s History Month and the fight of universal suffrage in the United States.
The Suffragettes
Today, women over the age of 18 take it for granted that they can vote. The right for Universal Suffrage was no walk in the park but was a long hard battle stretching over decades and generations. Starting in the mid 19th century. woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans believed to be a radical change to the Constitution.
Finally in 1920, 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed allowing women to vote.
In our window, Eleanor, our suffragette, is wearing a Victorian era outfit with sash and roses in the adopted colors of the suffragettes.
Colors of the Suffragettes
The suffragettes adopted the colors of white, purple and yellow into their iconography. These colors appeared on banners, sashes, pamphlets, and all manner of tricolor badges.
1. White was chosen to represent liberty, purity, and feminine grace.
2. Purple, or violet, represented the vote as well as loyalty, constancy, and steadfastness.
3. Yellow and gold drew inspiration from the sunflower, the state flower of Kansas, where early suffrage campaigns took place The sunflower was adopted as a symbol of the suffrage cause as was the yellow rose.
Those in favor of giving women the right to vote wore yellow roses or gold pins in their labels. Those not in favor of women’s suffrage wore red roses.
Women’s History Month is a month chosen to highlight the valuable contributions that women past and present have made in the world.
In 1987, Congress designated the month of March as Women’s History Month.
Our window display shows quotes by various women who have made a difference in society.
Our window display for March has received the vote of approval from many passersby as well as many OddFellows.
— By Ria and Sinéad Toolis, Mountain View 244
Information for this article was obtained from Wikipedia, and Oregon.gov/archives
Note: Big thanks to Jesse Donaldson for providing the image of our window.