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Discover the Powerhouse: Top 8 Fun Facts About Emmeline Pankhurst You Never Knew!

illustration of emmeline-pankhurst
Dive into the intriguing world of Emmeline Pankhurst, the fearless leader of the British suffragette movement, and discover the lesser-known quirks that fueled her passion for women's rights!

1. Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette and Artist

Move over Picasso, there's a new artist at the easel: Emmeline Pankhurst's daughter Sylvia was not just a suffragette superstar but also a talented painter and graphic designer, who whipped up smashing designs for the Women's Social and Political Union between 1907 and 1912 after mastering the brush at the Royal College of Art.
Source => sylviapankhurst.com

2. Mary Jane Clarke: Hunger Strike Medalist

When life gives you lemons, Mary Jane Clarke squeezed them right back in the face of oppressors: Emmeline Pankhurst's younger sister, a feisty suffragette, was awarded a Hunger Strike Medal for Valour after being force-fed in prison, ultimately passing away from a brain hemorrhage just two days after her release, becoming the first "woman martyr" for the movement.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

3. WSPU: Founding the Fight for Women's Vote

Before they were naming magical boarding school houses in the wizarding world, white, green, and purple were busy representing purity, hope, and dignity in the fight for women's right to vote: Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903, a female exclusive organization that focused on empowering working-class women and used militant tactics to bring attention to women's suffrage, eventually leading to the passage of the Representation of the People Act in 1918, which granted the vote to all women over 30.
Source => thoughtco.com

4. Suffragette Swag: The Purple, Green, and White

Before fashionistas declared "I purple you" as a symbol of love and a nod to K-Pop, the suffragettes rocked the OG purple swag, complete with a side of hope-green and purity-white: Emmeline Pankhurst and her fellow suffragettes designed a color scheme with purple for loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and green for hope, using it to adorn hats, belts, rosettes, and badges, and even leading retailers like Selfridges and Liberty to sell color-themed garments, accessories, and toilet soap in support of their cause.
Source => theguardian.com

Emmeline Pankhurst's Window Smashing Adventure

5. Emmeline Pankhurst's Window Smashing Adventure

Like a suffragette twist on "Rocks at my Window" by Bridgit Mendler, Emmeline Pankhurst found her way to fame and a free stay at Her Majesty's courtesy: Pankhurst was not only awarded a Hunger Strike Medal for throwing a stone at 10 Downing Street's window in 1912, but also received a second Holloway medal, engraved with her prison wing and cell number, commemorating her two-month imprisonment.
Source => museumoflondon.org.uk

6. Jujutsu Suffragette Squad: Taking Women's Rights to the Mat

Before Charlie's Angels, there was the Emmeline Pankhurst's Jujutsu Suffragette Squad: Edith Garrud, one of the first female martial arts instructors in the Western world, trained members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in jujutsu self-defense techniques at secret locations while advertising the benefits of such training in fictional scenarios for magazines.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

7. Fearless Emmeline: Property Destruction and Police Assaults

Before there was a "girl power" Spice Girls anthem and women's marches were the norm, there was one fierce and unapologetic lady stirring things up, quite literally: Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903, becoming infamous for its militant tactics in demanding women's suffrage, including property destruction and police officer assaults, complemented by prison hunger strikes to keep the cause in the public eye.
Source => barnesandnoble.com

8. Helen Pankhurst: Continuing the Suffragette Legacy

When the Pankhurst gene pool gets together, it's always a suffragette party: Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, carries on the family tradition as a women's rights activist, scholar, and writer, working with international development organizations and even authoring a book about the suffragette movement.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

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