Women suffragists bring attention to their decades-long struggle to achieve the right to vote by marching in a parade in New York on May 4, 1912. The woman in front leads with a baby and carriage while others dress in white, wear "Votes for Women" sashes and carry flags and banner.
The crowd was much bigger than expected and inadequately policed. On May 11, 1912, The Times published an article, "Women Present Formal Complaint of Police Mismanagement in the Parade of May 4; One had a Badge Torn Off; Child Parader Knocked Down - Police Commissioner's Only Defense is That Crowds Were Unprecedented."
"The women reported personal insult bags cut from their arms, and worst of all, the pressing of the enormous crowds o the street, which forced them out of their ranks," The Times wrote. At times, the women had to march in single file and had to "put their shoulder together and literally fight their way through the crowds."
Suffragists regrouped with another parade in November with vastly different results. "400,000 Cheer Suffrage March; 20,000 Women in Great Parade; Fifth Avenue a River of Fire; Little Jeering for the Men," The Times headline declared on November 11, 1912.
The Times wrote, "The demonstration was in striking contrast to the parade earlier in the year, when the women and girls passed through inadequately policed lines of spectators, many of whom jeered and ridiculed the cause the marchers represented. Last night there was none of that, and the crowd was as big as Fifth Avenue could hold."
