Washington Women's History Consortium

Suffrage Songs

Listen to the song "Columbia’s Daughters"

"Columbia’s Daughters"

by Elizabeth Knight from the recording entitled Songs of the Suffragettes,Folkways 05281 provided courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Copyright 1958. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song "The Suffrage Flag"

"The Suffrage Flag"

by Elizabeth Knight from the recording entitled Songs of the Suffragettes,Folkways 05281 provided courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Copyright 1958. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song "Let Us Speak Our Minds"

"Let Us Speak Our Minds"

by Elizabeth Knight from the recording entitled Songs of the Suffragettes,Folkways 05281 provided courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Copyright 1958. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song "Going to the Polls"

"Going to the Polls"

by Elizabeth Knight from the recording entitled Songs of the Suffragettes,Folkways 05281 provided courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Copyright 1958. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song Runaround

"Runaround"

During the long journey for women’s suffrage, Washington State was in the eyes of the world as it won and lost the vote for fifty years. Washington women finally won the vote in 1910. Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song Ain't I a Woman?

"Ain't I a Woman?"

From a passionate speech by former slave Sojourner Truth, given in Akron, Ohio in 1851 at a women’s rights convention. Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song Emma and May

"Emma and May"

Two very different women were primary players in the struggle for the vote in Washington: Emma Smith Devoe and May Arkwright Hutton. Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song Bubble and Squeak

"Bubble and Squeak"

The Washington Women’s Cook Book, was published in 1908 as a fundraiser for the Suffrage cause and was dedicated “To the first woman who realized that half of the human race were not getting a square deal.... Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song Thank You, Mr. Douglass

"Thank You, Mr. Douglas"

Honoring the great abolitionist Frederick Douglas who spoke at the Seneca Falls Convention, Arthur Denny who almost swayed the Washington territorial legislature to give women the vote in 1854, and Harry Burn of Tennessee who was convinced by his mother to change his vote and cast the ballot that ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on Aug. 18th, 1920. Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song Occoquan Workhouse

"Occoquoan Workhouse"

A song sung by the Suffragists, imprisoned at the “workhouse” for protesting in front of Wilson’s White House. Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song Night of Terror

"Night of Terror"

On November 14, 1917, 30 Suffragists in Occoquan Workhouse were beaten, threatened, and mistreated in what came to be known as the "night of terror." Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song If You Had Seen Inez

"If You Had Seen Inez"

Inez Milholland was a labor lawyer, public speaker, WWI protester and suffragist who was known as the martyr of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Despite an illness, she went on a speaking tour in the West and collapsed while giving a speech in Los Angeles. She died ten weeks later, Nov. 25, 1916. Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song Forward into Light

"Forward into Light"

"Forward out of error, Forward into light" was the motto of the National Woman’s Party, the young suffragists including Alice Paul, Lucy Burn and Inez Milholland who revitalized the movement and gained the vote in 1920. The song is a dialogue between the older women of the movement and the younger women who took up the cause. Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.



Listen to the song O, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?

"O, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?"

A song parody about those who resisted Suffrage. Linda’s additional verses are aimed at the women who both benefit from and resist the changes for which our foremothers struggled. Song by Linda Allen. Used by Permission.