SILENT NO MORE: THE TURNING POINT SUFFRAGIST MEMORIAL CAMPAIGN

“They engineered the greatest expansion of democracy on a single day the world had ever seen, and yet suffrage faded from public memory almost as soon as it happened. The leaders built no monuments to themselves, and too many of their names have been lost to history.”
– Eleanor Clift

What Would You Do For Your Right To Vote?

In 1917, they were arrested, dragged to court, then thrown into prison, most at the notorious Occoquan Workhouse. There they were beaten, forced to work, slept in rat-infested cells on bug-ridden mattresses, and fed food crawling with maggots. Their crime? Silently picketing the White House for the right to vote! When word leaked out about this inhumane treatment, it became the turning point in winning the right to vote.

The Suffrage Movement

Officially, the suffrage movement in the United States began with the Seneca Falls, NY, Convention in 1848 convened by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and others. It resulted in a “Declaration of Sentiments” based on the Declaration of Independence.

In it were listed the many inequities women suffered under the legal and political systems: no voice in the laws, no independent rights after marriage, no custody of children in case of divorce, no right to a college education, no opportunity to enter most professions and no right to vote. Many in attendance did not support women’s right to vote, but social reformer Frederick Douglas eloquently persuaded for its inclusion.

The convention framed a national discussion about women’s rights in America and marked the beginning of a massive civil rights movement that would spawn numerous women’s rights organizations and span the next seven decades. The right to vote was seen as the first step to change the traditional and unjust systems that existed against women. Susan B. Anthony entered the movement in 1852 when she joined forces with Stanton.

The two suffragist organizations that played a role in the final stages of the movement were the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) then led by Carrie Chapman Catt and the National Woman’s Party (NWP) led by Alice Paul. Paul had been part of NAWSA’s Congressional Committee in Washington, DC. Not content with some of the demands placed on the committee, she eventually formed the NWP. NAWSA was considered moderate in its views and actions while Paul and the NWP were viewed as militant. NAWSA originally sought voting rights for women through a state-by-state approach, but eventually Catt’s “Winning Plan” included a federal amendment. NWP solely fought for an amendment to the Constitution. Social change demands both reform methods for success and while the methodologies were divergent, both were necessary to ultimately win the vote.

It took thousands of women holding suffrage meetings in their homes, crossing the country to rally the cause and speaking to often hostile crowds to draw attention to the movement.

These advocates for liberty, following in the footsteps of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, held the first national march for a cause in Washington, DC, in March 1913. This parade was pivotal to the movement and also historic for 22 collegiate women at Howard University who founded Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. They chose to participate in the march as their first public action. The parade was also notable because it was led by Inez Milholland Boissevain on a magnificent white steed. She became an icon of the movement and a martyr to the cause.

Inez was beautiful, educated and dedicated to winning the vote. Despite illness and growing exhaustion, in 1916 she kept up a grueling speaking tour of the western states demanding passage of the women’s suffrage amendment. In late October she collapsed on a Los Angeles stage and died a month later of pernicious anemia. Her final words from the podium: “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?”

It’s a question Alice Paul and three hundred NWP members asked President Woodrow Wilson just days after Inez’s moving memorial service on Christmas Day in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Wilson remained unmoved and did nothing. One week later, the NWP led the first ever protests in front of the White House. Each peaceful action was greeted with derision and violence.

By 1917 women from every state took turns standing at the gates of the White House from dawn to dusk. For months on end. In rain, sleet, and snow. Silent but resolved. In their hands, handmade banners. They were the Silent Sentinels, or “Iron- Jawed Angels” led by Alice Paul on behalf of thousands of volunteers and 20 million American women.

American women without the right to vote.

To remove the political embarrassment of the daily pickets, Alice Paul and scores of other silent demonstrators were arrested, dragged to court, then thrown into prison, most at the notorious Occoquan Workhouse. There they were brutalized, forced to work, slept in rat-infested cells on bug-ridden mattresses, and fed food crawling with maggots.

Even while incarcerated, they were pioneers in non-violent protest. They went on hunger strikes to protest their unconstitutional imprisonment and terrible treatment. But even this silent act would not be tolerated.

Prison doctors placed Alice Paul in a psychiatric ward and attempted to transfer her to an insane asylum. But after an examination, the doctors of St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric hospital refused to admit her. One physician reported that she had “a spirit like Joan of Arc…She will die but she will never give up.”

She and fellow protestors had tubes jammed down their throats for forced feedings up to three times a day. All to prevent them from becoming martyrs for women’s suffrage.

When news of the treatment of the suffragists reached the public, it became the turning point in the fight for the right to vote. Public opinion pivoted. President Wilson quietly agreed to endorse the federal amendment on January 9, 1918, six weeks after the release of the last incarcerated suffragists. That’s when the push for the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing a woman’s right to vote, became a possibility at last.

TO HONOR, EDUCATE, INSPIRE & EMPOWER

“The young women of today do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all in public has been earned.”
– Lucy Stone, President of the American Woman Suffrage Association (1893)

The objective of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial is to educate, inspire and empower present and future generations to remain vigilant in the quest for liberty, freedom and equal rights. Education is the driving force behind the memorial as we wanted to commemorate and honor those who fought for seven decades to enfranchise all American women.