Votes for Women

An Edison Kinetophone short featuring leading suffragists Harriet May Mills, Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, Mrs. Raymond Brown, Mrs. John Rogers, Jr., and Elizabeth Freeman delivering speeches in support of women’s right to vote. Produced as part of Edison’s early sound-film experiments, it captured real voices from the suffrage movement and was exhibited in vaudeville houses, where it sometimes met with controversy. (Note: This film is distinct from the 1912 Reliance production of the same name directed by Hal Reid, which was a silent dramatic narrative.)