About The Memorial
The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial (located in the Occoquan Regional Park, 9751 Ox Road, Lorton, Virginia 22079) commemorates the millions of little-known women who engaged in the suffragist movement primarily from 1848 through passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 that allowed most women to vote. This memorial is both a visual symbol and educational tool that elevates them to their proper place in history. You will learn their stories and how they sacrificed, organized and in some cases endured torture for their cause. The suffragists’ decades-long persistence resulted in the greatest expansion of democracy the country had ever witnessed when twenty-five million women won the right to vote with the stroke of a pen on August 26, 1920, now known as Women’s Equality Day.
Why the Memorial?
It has been 100 years since the passage of the 19th Amendment, yet many suffrage events and names have been lost. The women who fought for the right to vote are largely unknown today. And what happened to them at the Occoquan Workhouse is a story still waiting to be told. Nineteen education stations within the memorial recount the 72-year history of the suffrage movement with a focus on those harshly imprisoned on the historic premises of the Occoquan Workhouse.
This bloodless revolution made possible the largest expansion of democracy the world had ever seen with the enfranchisement of all 22 million American women with the stroke of a pen. It launched the genesis of women’s equal rights in the U.S. It provided a model for success used in subsequent battles for civil rights that followed in America and around the world.
Fewer than eight percent of public outdoor venues across our country memorialize women. In a tour of the capital area, one will find monuments to many important historical figures instrumental in the fight for liberty, equality, and civil rights. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King and veterans of wars fought for liberty.
Yet unlike other heroes in the struggle for freedom, no national monument befitting the suffragists’ extraordinary contribution to our history existed. No single place had been dedicated to remind us of their role or to inspire us to the same commitment to civic participation.
That all changed with the opening of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial.
The memorial restores a critical part of history about American women omitted from our history books. The memorial commemorates the two million women from every state, creed, race and nationality who fought seventy-two years (1848-1920) to win ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution – the right for all American women to vote. Without this right of citizenship, women would not have been able to advance in education, employment, wealth, civil rights, business ownership, or parental rights.
Memorial Location
The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial is located in Occoquan Regional Park, Fairfax County, Virginia, part of the historic prison grounds where the infamous Occoquan Workhouse was located. Scores of Silent Sentinel suffragists aged 19 to 73 were unjustly imprisoned there and were humiliated, kept in inhumane conditions, locked in solitary confinement, and severely beaten. When word leaked out, it was the Turning Point in the battle for suffrage.
Occoquan Regional Park is part of NOVA Parks (formerly known as Northern Regional Park Authority). NOVA Parks received the completed memorial from the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association (since dissolved) which raised the funds for the project. NOVA Parks will provide perpetual maintenance for the memorial pro bono.
The Occoquan Regional Park is both historically important and strategically located for visitors. It has undergone an extensive renovation and is now a cultural destination that includes the Jean R. Packard Center. The facility features River View, an exquisite, windowed, multipurpose building which functions primarily as an event center and also includes educational exhibits. Food is available on site at the Brickmaker’s Café.