19th at 100: Commemorating the Suffrage Struggle and Its Legacies in Northeast Ohio

Suffrage Theater

Suffrage drama was a form of dramatic literature which emerged during the British women's suffrage movement in the early twentieth century. Organizations such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) viewed theater as an effective way to highlight women’s issues and spread pro-suffrage sentiment. Suffrage plays primarily aimed to expose the obsolescence and inaccuracy of gender stereotypes which traditionally justified denying women the vote. 

Pro-suffrage dramas often portrayed strong female characters who illustrate the qualities of rational, informed voters. Such characters often convince male or female anti-suffragists to revise their beliefs and support women's suffrage. Other plays satirize anti-suffragists as buffoons or narrow-minded individuals opposing progress. Many of these plays deliberately required few props and no sets, so as to allow amateur acting companies to perform the dramas at minimal cost. This strategy allowed suffrage dramas to be more widely performed. Additionally, due to the low cost of organizing a performance, suffrage plays were often performed in the drawing rooms of private residences and in small professional theaters.

Following this tradition, Margaret Barker and Julia Harmon, both former students of the College for Women and executive members of the Equal Suffrage League, took it upon themselves to write a pro-suffrage play about the antics of anti-suffragists. Titled "The Taming of the Anti," the script features dialogue between Herbert and Gertrude Jones about the perils of female suffrage.

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