Why people are wearing white at the DNC

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Some Democratic women have been spotted donning all white at this year’s convention — a tribute to women’s suffrage.

Democratic women, including Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Veronica Escobar, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks, were wearing all white at this year’s convention to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential candidate.

The white outfits are a tribute to the suffragist movement. According to the Library of Congress , suffragists began wearing white when marching to “counter the anti-suffrage accusation that women who sought the vote must be morally corrupt.” Women of the Democratic Party have collectively worn white on occasion in recent years to honor suffragists of the 20th century and amplify their call for women’s rights in the 21st century.

This year, as President Joe Biden delivered the State of the Union (SOTU) address, Democratic women wore white accessorized with “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” pins.

They also wore all white to honor suffragettes at the SOTU address in 2019. That year, then-freshmen congresswomen New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley were among those draped in white.

At the 2020 address, 90 Democratic women in Congress wore all white to mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which denied sex-based discrimination at the ballot box. “Proud to join my fellow @HouseDemWomen today as we #WearWhite to show support for the ongoing fight to achieve equality for women across the country,” then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in a post on X.

White has also been worn by women on the brink of making history. In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro wore all white when she became the first woman to be nominated by a major party for vice president. In 2016, Clinton wore all white when she became the first woman to be nominated by a major party for president.