The War of the Roses: Suffragists Versus Anti-Suffragists | Carrie Chapman Catt

Suffrage was a war largely of women against women. The nation’s very own “War of the Roses,” with the anti-suffragists wearing red roses and the suffragists yellow ones. Both sides decorated themselves with the flowers and legislators often would wear them on their lapels to show which side they supported.

Carrie Chapman Catt devoted most of her life to the expansion of women’s rights nationwide and around the world, and is recognized as one of the key leaders of the American women’s suffrage movement. Her political strategies and organizational skills contributed to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 18, 1920. 

This segment is from Iowa PBS’s documentary Carrie Chapman Catt: Warrior for Women which tells the compelling story of the Iowa suffragist and her role in the women’s suffrage movement.