Introduction
The strategies in this exhibit are picketing, arrests, imprisonment, and hunger strikes. These strategies played a big part in women getting the right to vote, and all of them helped gain attention for women's suffrage and pushed powerful political figures to take them into account. When they picketed, women would stand outside of important places, like the White House, with signs or banners that had phrases related to the movement. They would often be arrested on petty charges, such as blocking traffic, even when they were doing nothing of the sort. Once they were imprisoned, they would willingly not eat for several days, or in some cases weeks, as a form of protest, and to gain attention as political prisoners. The prison, not wanting to be known as a prison that lets its prisoners die, force-fed the hunger strikers, which kept them alive, but was also a form of torture. By doing this, many people felt sympathetic towards the suffragists and people who weren’t supporters before now showed their attention to the movement. With these strategies, suffragists also drew attention to their cause, which helped spread the word.
This short article published in 1872 by the New York Times listed as a “Minor Topics” talks about how Susan B. Anthony, a leader of the suffrage movement, took 3 other female suffragists to go vote in the election, which was at the time illegal for women to do. The article talks about the voting act as a “minor topic”, which may have been because of sexism and not wanting to make this story a headline. The article does not, however, underplay the actions that the suffragists took, saying that Anthony had “the honor” of leading this action and saying that the action “makes people reflect” on whether women's suffrage is possible.
This photo shows twelve suffragists holding banners and standing outside the front of the White House in what appears to be very foul weather. They are not chanting or shouting, just silently standing there. One banner reads “Mr. President how long must women wait for liberty.” Another banner is unreadable in this picture, and all the rest are what we assume are suffrage flags.
We can assume that they are very dedicated to their cause, given that they are still standing there even in the bad weather. They also might want to seem respectable, not raucous and uncontrolled, so that men would take them more seriously and not think that they are too irresponsible to vote. The combination of the banner addressed to the president and that they are standing outside the White House likely means that they are targeting President Wilson, who did not support a federal amendment for women’s suffrage. They are probably trying to demonstrate that they are impatient and that he is the only thing holding them back. They also might be trying to point out that they do not have liberty, a thing that was supposedly guaranteed to any citizen of the U.S.
This image depicts picketers in front of the White House holding banners and wearing sashes. The banners say “Mr. President how long must women wait for liberty” and “Mr. President what will you do for woman suffrage.” Their sashes say, “University of Kansas,” “U of MO,” “Washington College of Law,” and “Leland Stanford.” There are more women wearing sashes but theirs are unreadable. These women are wearing layers and the trees behind them don’t have leaves, so this suggests the photo was taken around winter time. The image also implies these women are wearing sashes with college names on them to prove they are smart and sophisticated, unlike how early suffragettes were depicted. They were often shown in film and art as rowdy, rude, bossy and unfeminine. This may mean they are also striking in front of the White House to gain attention, from both citizens and the president, in order to have more supporters of women’s suffrage.
This quote, a description of the response to a suffrage picket, is from The Story of Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party, a book by Inez Haynes. She describes a circle of small boys that gathered around the suffragists, insulting them, and the young men who were encouraging the boys. As she says, they were also pushing in and crowding the suffragists until it became suffocating and scary.
The fact that boys and men were insulting the suffragists probably means that they want them to fail, and that they possibly think they are silly and can be pushed around. However, the lack of women insulting them might mean that the women support them, or at least do not feel as strongly as men. However, it could also mean that the women are so oppressed by the patriarchy that they feel it highly unacceptable for them to express their views this way.
In 1917-1918 over 500 women were found guilty of obstructing traffic and were sentenced to a fine of $25.00 (about $517.34 nowadays) or 3 days in prison. In 1917 suffragists realized that their cause was not gaining enough recognition because of World War 1. They knew that in order to win the right to vote, they had to do something that would gain attention. They knew that overseas British suffragists had gained attention by going on hunger strikes and so they organized a way to get the President’s and the media’s attention. They organized 500 suffragists from all over the country to come and picket outside of the White House. Picketing peacefully was completely legal in 1917 so there was nothing that anyone could do to legally stop them.
But nevertheless, the first two picketers who picketed after World War 1 were arrested and charged for obstructing a sidewalk. But, they were released immediately and never fined. This went on for days and did nothing to stop the women. So on June 27, 1917, 6 women were charged with obstructing traffic and were fined. The suffragists then refused to pay the fine and were sentenced to 3 days in jail. This didn’t stop them and 16 more women were arrested and sentenced to 60 days in jail. But the women continued picketing and on November 27 and 28, 1917, all of the imprisoned suffragists were released without explanation. According to The District of Columbia Court of Appeals, all of the women were "illegally arrested, illegally convicted, and illegally imprisoned." This protest was considered to be an important reason women got the vote on August 18, 1920.
This image from 1910 shows a prison guard and a suffragette prisoner inside of a London prison. The words “2nd DIVISION CELL ALLOTTED TO SUFFRAGETTES” are painted above them. There is a chain hanging from the guard’s belt with a pair of keys attached to the end of it. The suffragette has a patch with “OX216” written on it. The door and wall appear to be made of sturdy metal. Judging from the chain on the guard’s belt, the door, and the walls it appears that the cells the suffragists were being kept in were in relatively high security. From 1900 to the start of World War I, an estimated 1,000 suffragettes were jailed in the UK. Judging by the high security of the prison cell, the number of suffragettes being sent to prison at this time, and the backlash to the suffrage movement whoever was in charge of the prison may have moved the suffragists to their own area of the prison so they did not spread their so-called “radical” ideas to the other inmates. The cell may also have been so high security to “de-radicalize” the suffragists.
This is a picture of Helena Hill Weed. It was taken in 1917. The picture shows Helena serving 3 days in prison because she held a banner that said "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." This particular photo shows Helena standing inside of her prison cell, with her hands on the bars. She is wearing all white and has a stern look directed to the camera. She may have put on this facial expression to show that she was strong and to show the strength of the suffragists. In the background of the cell she was in, there are hooks to hang jackets and coats and you can see the part of her bed. Helena Hill Weed was born in 1875 and died in 1958. She was a suffragist for the National Women’s Party. Helena was one of the 1,000 women to march outside of the White House. Besides being a suffragist, she was one of the first women to become a geologist.
This text is Ernestine Hara Kettler’s words on her time as a prisoner, specifically some of her time doing prison work. She states, “he asked, would we at least please hold the work in our lap, that we were demoralizing the other prisoners in that workroom.” The “he” in that quote is the superintendent who supervised the prison workers. He might say they are demoralizing others in fear that other prisoners may act like the suffragists and be less submissive. Lastly, Ernestine writes, “And then we said no, that since we decided that we were unjustly arrested, that we were political prisoners...That we were going to abide by our decision and that we had to be respected as political prisoners.” This was their form of protest in prison. In this protest they were not going to do the work they were told to.
This document describes Alice Paul’s statement on her time as a political prisoner and during her hunger strike. She had hunger struck twice and in this article she describes how she was force fed.
She says, “I was taken from my bed, carried to another room and forced into a chair, bound with sheets and sat upon bodily by a fat murderess, whose duty it was to keep me still. Then the prison doctor, assisted by two women attendants, placed a rubber tube up my nostrils and pumped liquid food through it into the stomach.” As Alice Paul describes it, the process of forcible feeding in prisons was inhumane, even if it was to keep prisoners alive. Later in the text, Alice Paul is at a meeting and asks, “‘How about votes for women?’ ‘You would have thought I had thrown a bomb. There was serious disorder,” This quote helps to strengthen the idea that men back then we’re so disgusted by the idea of womens’ suffrage, it seemed to scare them.
This is a quote from a letter to the Occoquan Workhouse, the prison holding the suffragists arrested for picketing the White House. The writer, who is unknown, is asking the prison why they are force-feeding the women, when it would be easier to just let them starve. They say that the suffragists are “a rotten lot, and are crazy, and should be locked up for life.”
The writer probably is an adamant opposer of women’s suffrage, and they are trying to convince the prison to stop force-feeding the women on the grounds that they are not worth the effort, and, in fact, that they should stay in prison forever.
This quote was written by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1914. Emmeline Pankhurst was a founding member of the British Women's Social and Political Union and was later named in “100 of the most important people in the 20th century.” She spent her life advocating for women’s suffrage and fighting for equal rights. She led many suffragists and members of the BWSU through hunger strikes and prison sentences. Emmeline Pankhurst wrote these words in her autobiography called My Own Story which was published in 1914. She wrote about the screams and cries that took place during the hunger strikes. She writes about how she will never forget the horror that took place during the hunger strike. Hunger strikes had happened before in Europe and Russia but the first modern-day hunger strikes in Britain happened in 1909 and were led by Emmeline Pankhurst. They began in London's Holloway Prison when they realized that they were not gaining enough attention. In order to gain attention, many suffragists refused to eat causing them to be severely ill. It got to the point where the women had to be forced fed with tubes in order to eat. So when Emmeline writes, “when those cries were ringing in my ears” she was describing people screaming because of the women being force-fed. She also writes, “never while I live to forget the suffering I experienced” which is describing the days they were on the hunger strike but also can be seen as the entire suffrage movement and the suffering they endured to win the right to vote for women.
This image shows suffragist leader Alice Paul holding a wine glass standing next to a flag. The flag appears to be based in some way off an American flag, judging from the stars and stripes on it. Paul would add a star to this flag whenever the 19th Amendment got ratified in a new state. Also, Paul and many of the people around her are wearing white. Historically, white was the color of the suffragists. One of the most common stereotypes about the suffragists was that they were violent and uncivilized, so they wore white to prove that they were clean and refined. One of the suffragists in the background also appears to be holding a suffragist flag. During her career, Alice Paul gave many speeches about suffrage, and these were attended by many people.
Bibliography
George Mason University – History Matters: "Jailed for Freedom: A Women’s Suffragist Remembers Prison"
Library of Congress: "Alice Paul Talks"
Library of Congress: "Today in History - August 28"
Mashable: "1908-1917: Imprisoned suffragettes"
National Women's History Museum: "The National Women's Party: Jailed for Freedom"
New York Times: "When Susan B. Anthony’s ‘Little Band of 9 Ladies’ Voted Illegally"
University of Washington Mapping Social Movements Project: "National Woman's Party: a year-by-year history 1913-1922"