Even in the early 20th century, women seeking the right to vote knew how to get the media’s attention.

In demonstrations and parades, the suffragists donned white dresses meant to generate photo coverage in the daily newspapers. The color choice also echoed England’s suffrage movement, which used purple, white and green as its official colors.

The white outfits dozens of female lawmakers wore to the State of the Union address Tuesday night were a visual tribute to the U.S. suffragists and an attempt to spark the same kind of publicity, said Rebecca Boggs Roberts, the author of “Suffragists in Washington, D.C.: The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote.”

It worked.

Hours before the speech, Democratic women were already posing in the Capitol in their white suits and dresses. “This afternoon, ahead of the #SOTU,” Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-Texas) tweeted, “I was honored to stand alongside some of the 106 women of the #116 Congress in #suffragette white @HouseDemWomen.”