The Golden Lane

The powerful story of the women who stood up for their right to vote in early twentieth-century Missouri, includes photos. It was June 14, 1916, a warm, sticky Wednesday morning. The Democratic Convention would soon meet in St. Louis. Inside the Jefferson Hotel, the men ate breakfast and met with their committees. Outside the hotel, thousands of women quietly took their places along both sides of Locust Street. They stood shoulder to shoulder, each one in a dress that brushed the pavement, shading herself with a yellow parasol and wearing a yellow sash that said "Votes for Women." The all-male delegations may not have had a comfortable walk down the Golden Lane, but they were moved to add women's suffrage to the national platform. In this book, Margot McMillen tells the story of this fight for a right too often taken for granted and the part that Missouri women played in it.