A Common-Sense View of Woman Suffrage (1908)
By Jesse Lynch Williams
The Ohio State Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Part of the Pro-Suffrage Campaign Literature Collection
JK1901 .P96
Although the work Suffragists did was powerful, the National American Woman Suffrage Association enlisted help from the Men’s League for Woman Suffrage to rally more support. Jesse Lynch Williams, an American author, was one of the men who created campaign-related literature for the suffrage movement. In this pamphlet, Williams takes some common myths about the movement and flips them on their head. One of these themes is the idea that supporting the suffrage movement meant women hated marriage or husbands. This was a typical assumption, as it can be seen in the post cards we just considered, as well. However, as Williams contends, this assumption implies that women are lesser once married, rather than joined into a union with their husbands. He notes that this progression of female independence is natural and expected.