
Massachusetts Feminist
Determination is written all over this woman's face. She is wearing her convictions in the form of jewelry. The axe-shaped bar pin at her collar is a symbol of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, an organization which opposed the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcohol and was strongly associated with early feminist efforts in the United States. It is no coincidence that this picture was taken in Gloucester, Massachusetts, as this state was at the heart of the temperance movement. The axe became a symbol of the movement because of the actions of Carrie Nation, famed for charging into saloons armed with an axe and destroying the merchandise.
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