His District

Nina Evans Allender, suffragist and “official cartoonist” for Alice Paul’s Congressional Union, made drawings that challenged the stereotypical images of suffragists. In His District, a young, attractive suffragist studies a “Campaign Text Book!” Meanwhile, a “Map of His District” hangs over a map of the United States, illustrating how suffragists pioneered modernday lobbying to achieve a federal amendment. Specifically, they compiled information about legislators and their districts to make their best case. Suffragists often held social events like afternoon gatherings for tea in order to ply politicians with questions and gather information. They then shared information with others to increase pressure through numbers. Their records charted their progress toward gaining support for the Nineteenth Amendment and helped them pivot to introduce new tactics. Allender, who had studied at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, produced approximately 200 cartoons to support the cause.