If you enjoy your summer superhero movies, then you will most likely check out the new Wonder Woman movie, released in U.S. theaters on June 2, 2019. The movie is set during the “Great War,” but did you know women were regularly featured on U.S. World War I and World War II propaganda posters and leaflets?

Quite often, heroic images of powerful women were featured prominently in an effort to incite patriotic fervor and sentiments. Check out the collection of posters featuring heroines thanks to the Library of Congress and National Archives collections.

Many of the posters feature a goddess like figure, “Columbia,” the historical name often used to refer to the New World, and in particular, the United States.

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