“a rash and dreadful act for a woman”: the 1915 woman suffrage parade in Boston

A couple of weeks ago I promised to share with all of you the July "object of the month" from the Massachusetts Historical Society, which I selected and wrote the text for. And today it goes live! The item, to refresh your memory, is a 1915 leaflet containing instructions to participants in the October 16 woman suffrage parade held here in Boston. To be entirely self-referential and quote from my own description,

In 1915, male voters in Massachusetts were asked to decide on an amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution that would strike the word “male” from the article that gave men the right to vote. In response to the upcoming vote, the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association organized a pro-suffrage parade on Saturday, 16 October 1915, involving some 15,000 marchers and 30 bands. The parade route began at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street; marchers made their way past the Public Garden, Boston Common, and the State House before proceeding up Tremont Street and Saint James Avenue to Huntington. The parade ended at Mechanics Hall where a pro-suffrage rally was held.

You can see the digital version of the broadside and my accompanying text over at the Massachusetts Historical society website.

^{image credit: Suffrage parade, New York City, 6 May 1912, made available at Wikimedia Commons; image is in the public domain.}