Abstract

In Rampant Women, Linda J. Lumsden offers an in-depth look at the intersection between the woman suffrage movement and the constitutional right to assemble peaceably. Beginning in 1908, women activists took to the streets in a variety of public gatherings and protests in a bold attempt to win the right to vote. Lumsden shows how outdoor pageants, conventions, petition drives, soapbox speaking at open-air meetings, the use of symbolic expression, and picketing -- all manifestations of the right of assembly -- played an instrumental role in the woman suffrage movement. Without these innovative forms of protest, Lumsden argues, women might not be voting today in the United States.