During the 1916 Democratic National Convention, suffragists staged a demonstration. The idea for the silent protest came from Emily Newell Blair in February earlier that year. More than 3,000 women lined twelve blocks along Locust Street, wearing white dresses, "votes for women" sashes and holding yellow umbrellas. They did not move or talk and the event, which was organized by Edna Gellhorn, was called a "walkless, talkless parade," or the "Golden Lane". The demonstration was meant to show how women had been silenced by not being allowed to vote. The event gained national attention in the media. The Democratic delegates voted to support women's suffrage on a state by state basis. Also in June, during the 1916 Republican National Convention, women sent telegrams to the Missouri electors to convince them to support women's suffrage in the Republican platform. The Republican convention declined to support a federal suffrage amendment, but instead supported suffrage by state.