Women Demonstrating for Washington D.C. Rights to Vote in 1938 (which they did not get until 1961)

Voting Rights

Photograph

[Suffrage][Politics][Washington D.C.] Original press photograph of members of the D.C. League of Women Voters, capturing a powerful moment in the struggle for voting rights in the nation’s capital. Silver gelatin press photo, Washington, D.C., November 8, 1938. Verso bears original typed press caption from ACME Newspictures, date-stamped Nov. 8, 1938, with editorial pencil notations. D.C. women still did not have the right to vote in presidential elections until the ratification of the 23rd Amendment in 1961, which granted them electoral votes in presidential contests. Before these federal amendments, residents of D.C., a federal district, did not have the same voting rights as citizens of a state. The photograph features three white women engaged in a street demonstration: one seated beside a symbolic ballot box draped in black crepe, distributing flyers to two standing women. Behind them, a sign reads: “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,” underscoring the protest’s constitutional argument. A secondary sign below the ballot box reads: “Vote-less D.C. League of Women Voters: Citizens Everywhere in the United States are Voting TO-DAY Except in the District of Columbia.” This scene was designed to educate passersby about Washingtonians' lack of federal voting representation, a condition that would persist for decades. The women depicted are identified in the press caption as Mrs. Franklyn Ryan, Irene Charsky, and Jean Gates. This photograph documents a campaign urging Congressional action on constitutional amendments to enfranchise D.C. residents. Light wear. Overall very good condition. A striking photograph underscoring the intersection of gender and political disenfranchisement and women-led civic activism in the interwar period.

Item #22227

Price: $225.00