How Suffragist Strategies Are Used Today

Suffragists didn’t invent political organization tactics, but they took what others had used before, adjusted them for their needs, and found success. And campaigns and advocates are still using that same adopt-build-change strategy.

Suffragists…used letter campaigns in a flu-pandemic world to reach more people.
Now…campaigns inundate potential voters with text messages.

Suffragists…picketed the White House and went on hunger strikes (some were force-fed milk and food with hoses) while in prison.
Now…Americans marched across the country—and in front of the White House—this summer to protest the killing of George Floyd, police violence, and systemic racism. In Colorado, the state Legislature rapidly passed sweeping law enforcement reforms.

Suffragists…met in small social clubs first and then banded disparate groups together under umbrella organizations like the Colorado Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage Association that led coordinated efforts to change sentiments about women’s suffrage laws locally and nationally.
Now…Colorado mom Shannon Watts formed a Facebook group with friends to reduce gun violence after the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012. The group—which became Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and has more than five million supporters—funds candidates and leads national efforts on gun control legislation.