It took decades of protest, organized demonstrations, and more before the U.S. enshrined in its Constitution that a citizen could not be prevented from voting on the basis of gender. The decision, passed in June 1919 and enacted in August 1920, changed history and continued to ripple through the U.S., sparking new waves of the feminist movement.
Looking back over 100 years, women fighting for the right to vote, called suffragettes, used sartorial statements to amplify their message. The color white became symbolic of the women’s suffrage moment.
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Below you can read more about the history behind the suffragette white and its incarnations throughout history up to the present day.
Suffragette White at the 2024 DNC
The most recent incarnation of the use of suffragette white occurred during the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which began on August 19 and ended on August 22, 2024. This historic event marked Vice President Kamala Harris’s official acceptance of the party’s nomination for President of the United States.
On August 22, the final night of the convention, several attendees such as Kerry Washington and delegates wore white as a sartorial statement and tribute to the suffragette movement. Some delegates also wore sashes with the phrase “Votes for Women” embossed in a bold black font with purple and yellow hues framing the phrase.
Why white?
Before white became the unifying color that brought the women’s suffrage movement together, many women active in women’s suffrage organizations from the mid-19th century onward used the color yellow to symbolize the movement.
“In 1869, the suffragettes went to Kansas, and the state flower of Kansas is the sunflower,” said Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, a lecturer in the history department at Case Western Reserve University. Yellow became the color of the suffragettes, and in the 1890s it would become their official color.
At the time, suffragettes were moving to ratify state constitutions one by one, traveling to each state to plead their case for women’s suffrage. At the same time, women in England were organizing under the colors green, purple, and white. Rabinovitch-Fox notes that there were several “transatlantic conversations” between the movements and their representatives, including Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, leaders of the American movement.
“When Paul and Burns came back to the States, they started looking for those color schemes.” Suffragettes, Rabinovitch-Fox says, were very smart when it came to the media; they knew how important it was to dress for the movement.
“White is one of the colors, but it didn’t really become popular until very late, partly because the suffrage parades were very colorful,” Rabinovitch-Fox explains. “Because they were so smart and understood the media, they would send pictures to newspapers themselves. Alice Paul was very good at saying, ‘We need to create this visual contrast.’ White was useful for them to do that. The streets were very dark, so when you see a group of women in white dresses or light dresses, the contrast [in photos] will be great. They understood that. White is just a more practical color.”
The argument for making the suffragette movement more egalitarian was: “Wear a white dress and a yellow bow tie and you’re a suffragette,” Rabinovitch-Fox said.
In the United States, the color was often seen when women marched for the right to vote in the final stages of the movement.
It’s also important to note that the color white and whiteness played a significant role in the women’s suffrage movement. “The 19th Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to vote, it does say you can’t stop someone from voting based on their sex. But you can stop them from voting based on other reasons,” Rabinovitch-Fox said. While prominent Black activists like Ida B. Wells voted in the North after the 19th Amendment, Black women, Native women and more waited years to become active participants in the United States’ democratic process.
“We often think the 19th Amendment is the end of the story, but it’s not.”
Other colours of interest
Other colors that were adopted by the women’s suffrage movement were yellow gold, purple, and green. Each color, like white, symbolized a certain quality. White was often associated with purity, green with hope, and purple with royalty.
To this day, green and purple are still seen in suffragette celebrations. To mark the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in the UK in June 2018, women gathered and waved flags in purple, white and green. Many also wore the tricolour scheme.
In today’s politics
Suffragette white still appears as a powerful sartorial statement in contemporary politics, but this is a recent phenomenon. Rabinovitch-Fox cites the 2016 election as a period in which white clothing took off, particularly among female politicians. “Once Clinton adopted it,” Rabinovitch-Fox says, “it became a way to connect past struggles to current struggles.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has worn suffragette white at several pivotal moments in her political career. During the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC, the future vice president of the United States wore suffragette white as a symbol, evoking the power of women in politics.
For her historic victory speech after President Joe Biden won the presidency and Harris won the vice presidency, she again wore suffragette white. She thanked “all the women who have worked for more than a century to secure and protect the right to vote — 100 years ago with the 19th Amendment, 55 years ago with the Voting Rights Act, and now in 2020 with a new generation of women across our country who voted and continued to exercise their fundamental right to vote and be heard.”
Vice President Harris further reflected on the occasion, saying, “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.”
During other political events, such as the State of the Union address, women belonging to the Democratic Party wore suffragette white as a fashion statement to promote women’s reproductive rights.
“White makes you stand out. As a woman, you certainly stand out in Congress. But a group of women wearing white in Congress, that’s a statement of power.”
Outside of Capitol Hill, women still wear suffragette white for historic occasions and celebrations. At the 131st Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, women donned white garments inspired by the early 20th century to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The color purple was also seen on sashes, hats and more.
“Suffs” the Broadway musical
The musical “Suffs” has been nominated for six Tony Awards at the 2024 awards show on June 16. The musical chronicles the historical events of the early 20th century leading up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920.
The show premiered on April 18 in New York City. Hillary Clinton, a producer on the show, attended the event with a symbolic sartorial statement. The former first lady and secretary of state chose to wear suffragette white to the show, as a symbol of the work women did, and continue to do, for women’s rights.
Although the movement began over 100 years ago, women’s suffrage and the colors that symbolize women’s political and social goals still carry weight. They are a sartorial symbol of progress, hope, and the eternal desire for equality — the medium is the message.
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