The cartoon is as painful as it is poignant. Santa Claus stands above the U.S. Capitol, holding a large bag of gifts in one hand and a piece of paper bearing the word “Vote” in the other. The caption read, “It’s in the bag!” The cartoon appeared on a flier distributed by the District of Columbia Suffrage Committee in 1947, as District residents advocated for a plan in Congress that would grant them just the smallest amount of local control over their own affairs. And just like we have been many a times, they were let down that Christmas.

The cartoon is one of hundreds of photographs and editorial cartoons in Mark S. Greek’s new book, Washington, D.C. Protests: Scenes from Home Rule to the Civil Rights Movement. Greek, an archivist in the Washingtoniana section of the D.C. Public Library, culled the many images and cartoons from the archives of the now defunct Washington Star, the D.C. Community Archives and the Historical Image Collection.

The book vividly details the demands that District residents have been making for more than a century, for everything from voting representation in Congress to civil rights. But more than just tell us of these struggles, it lets the images of the people involved in them do the talking.