Policewoman arrests Florence Youmans of Minnesota and Annie Arniel (center) of Delaware for refusing to give up their banners.
Arrests were made frequently and were used as a way to get the NWP picketers off the White house property.
In this image we see three women in the foreground. Two are NWP picketers and the third is a police woman who is in the process of arresting the picketers. It has been estimated that close to 300 NWP members were arrested and near 100 picketers were imprisoned for varying lengths of stay. The woman in the background is holding aloft a banner showing the colors of the NWP white, gold and purple. White for the purity of their intentions, gold for the justice of their cause and purple for the spirit in which they pursued it.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mnwp.147006
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information:
Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The Suffragette Movement: An Introduction
A general overview of the development of the Congressional Union, its split from The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the first picketing of the White House and the response.
In 1913 Alice Paul and Lucy Burns returned to the United States from the United Kingdom. The two women sought to create a political entity that would agitate for woman's suffrage at the federal level. For decades, the primary woman's suffrage association, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) had focused on a campaign geared towards the granting of suffrage on a state by state basis. By 1913, just over a handful of states had granted women the right to vote and the suffrage movement suffered from a crisis of leadership as older leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton were asked to step aside for a new generation of organizers. Carrie Chapman Catt was the president of NAWSA when Burns and Paul returned from England.
Paul and Burns had been radicalized in England by the aggressive and often violent suffrage movement they had joined and protested with. Emily Davison, a radical suffragette in England, had just thrown herself under the king's horse at the Epsom Derby. Killing herself in an attempt to draw attention to the suffrage movement. Below is a link to a short video of Davison at Epsom Derby that shows her walking onto the track and being struck by the king's horse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH_r6-JpO9Q&feature=related
In this atmosphere of radical deeds in support of suffrage for women Paul and Burns sought to use the tactics they had learned in England to gain a media profile for themselves and their movement. Eschewing the violence of the English radicals their newly formed Congressional Union would focus on lobbying at the Federal level. The pair used their skills as promoters to put the national amendment for woman's suffrage on the front page. Planning huge rallies and gaudy parades the pair of Burns and Paul seemed to be getting great things done.
When the First World War came to American shores in 1916 indirectly, and directly with America's entry in 1917, the suffrage movement in the United States was torn. A choice was made to support the war and the Democratic president, Woodrow Wilson who had done nothing to advance the suffrage amendment, or to oppose the president because of his feet dragging on suffrage. NAWSA, led by Catt, chose to work wholeheartedly with the government even if it meant putting aside organizing for the suffrage campaigns across the states. The Congressional Union, led by Paul and Burns, would split off from NAWSA and continue to organize and agitate for woman's suffrage in America. Renamed the National Woman's Party, Paul and Burn's organization continued to grow in strength but its aggressive, however nonviolent, protesting earned it the ire of Woodrow Wilson.
Blatant in their support for the Republicans in 1916 the NWP had to focus on changing the path of a Democratic president and Congress it had tried to defeat at the polls. The organization eventually decided to use a mainstay of labor protests: the picket line. Furthermore, the organization proposed to picket the White House, something that had never been done before. At the time it was widely considered disrespectful and unpatriotic especially as it became clear that the country was going to war. The picketers were arrested by police, beaten by crowds, subject to the verbal and physical abuse of passersby and in one well known case they suffered a series of brutal beatings while incarcerated at the hands of the guards.
This social movement was the first of the liberation movements that would sweep the United States throughout the twentieth century. The effort of women like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns to hold the Suffragist parade in Washington presaged that of the numerous marches on Washington throughout the past century. Picketing the White House led to the house's denigration as an untouchable symbol of the nation and many, many more protesters would march up and down Pennsylvania Avenue in the decades after Alice Paul and Lucy Burns were arrested outside the gates. Not only were these women pioneers in the rights of their sex, they were pioneers for all the groups excluded from their privileges and duties as citizens of the United States.
Steven Terry
Iron Jawed Angels - Force Feeding Scene
A dramatic re-enactment of the process by which Alice Paul (Hillary Swank) was forced to undergo a forced feeding while in jail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO70ZjZ0wrw
(You will have to cut and paste this link in your browser. I am sorry for the inconvenience but to embed links you apparently must purchase a product from omeka.)
In this short clip from the HBO film, Iron Jawed Angels, the main character Alice Paul (Hillary Swank) is force fed during a hunger strike while in jail.
HBO films
Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/user/HellamundYPP
Posted April 26, 2008
Open source for educational purposes
Women Vote - "Night of Terror" (Women`s Suffrage/Woman`s Rights)
The Night of Terror described in a Youtube video
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeOHPfsCtFo&feature=related</p>
<p>(You will have to cut and paste this link in your browser. I am sorry about the inconvenience but apparently you have to buy an omeka product to embed links.)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This video describes the events that surround the "Night of Terror" on November 14, 1917. In a jail outside of Washington DC guards brutally beat the NWP members incarcerated their for picketing. Some women were chained to the doors of their cell, one was thrown to the floor and her cell mate believed her dead from the way she lay still after this attack. The subsequent publication of the abuse in national newspapers helped draw support for the federal amendment to grant women the right to vote.</p>
Macrae Cain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeOHPfsCtFo&feature=related
Macrae Cain on Youtube
September 27, 2008
Open source for educational purpose
SUFFRAGISTS PLAN TO CONTINUE TROUBLE:Hope Their Banners Will Keep On Waving at White House Gates--Two More Arrested.
Alice Paul and the NWP react to an early series of arrests.
This article describes the NWP as an organization determined to continue its efforts. The incarcerated picketers are described as uncomfortable in prison but determined to succeed. Alice Paul is shown as an indefatigable organizer, using the news garnered by her colleagues imprisonment to draw more attention to the cause. Paul's use of the release of the picketers as a chance to celebrate the success of the movement shows the deep commitment felt by the NWP's leadership to women's suffrage.
Special to The New York Times.
New York Times (1857-1922); Jun 29, 1917
ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2007)
June 28, 1917
Open source for educational purposes
PROTEST FOR PICKETS SENT TO PRESIDENT:Mrs. Belmont Tells Him Their Treatment in Washington Jail Is Inhuman.
The treatment of incarcerated picketers was often severe and sometimes brutal. The NWP constantly sought to get its members freed by having them classified as political prisoners and petitioning the White House for their release.
The article describes the poor conditions that Alice Paul and other picketers are enduring in prison calling them political prisoners it asks why they are held in a jail for murders. The article also goes on to describe the next picket of the White House in the coming days. The article, written on November 10, 1917, comes four days before the infamous "Night of Terror" and the protest referred to in the article is most likely the same that caused the violent beatings of several women while in their cells. It is a grisly reminder of knowing what is going to happen and the hopeful tone taken by the picketers who want to be allowed to march is heart-rending.
New York Times (1857-1922). New York, N.Y.:Nov 10, 1917. p. 3 (1 pp.)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2007)
November 10, 1917
Open source for educational purposes
Two Americans in Guildhall Exploit
This article details the emergence of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns in the radical suffragist movement in England. It also credits Alice Paul with originating the hunger strike as a way to protest imprisonment.
The Guildhall Exploit was an assault on the refined world of the English government. Long accustomed to relying on a stubborn style of compromise the British government was slow to recognize the seriousness of the suffragist movement. Smashing windows and confronting politicians were the tactics of the suffragists in England, particularly those who followed the example of Emily Pankhurst. The first article is the earliest article I could find that talks about Alice Paul and Lucy Burns in detail about their efforts in England. The article credits Alice Paul with inventing the hunger strike, a claim, if it can be substantiated, that could alter the way we think about the origins of social protest the world over.
Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
New York Times (1857-1922). New York, N.Y.: Nov 12, 1909. pg. 1, 1 pgs
ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2007)
Open source for educational purposes
WILSON EXHORTS THE FOREIGN BORN:May Keep Love of Home, He Says, but New Allegiance Is Supreme. STIRS CHICAGO CROWDS Makes Three Addresses, Receiving the Greatest Demonstrations of the Campaign. CROWD ROUTS SUFFRAGISTS Breaks Up a Silent Demonstration and Seizes Banners -- Police Apathy Charged.
Wilson pro-war rally in Chicago turns violent as NWP protesters arrive and are set upon by the crowd.
This article talks about Wilson calling the nation together in a time of war in Europe during a speech in Chicago. After his arrival, but before his speech, NWP protesters arrived carrying signs calling on Wilson to endorse women's suffrage. After Wilson had entered the auditorium to give his speech the crowd set upon the protesters taking their signs and breaking them and beating many of the female protesters. The NWP released a statement, cited in the article, that called out the police for refusing to subdue the crowd. Allegations of police indifference to the fate of protesters was to be a frequent refrain of the NWP.
The section detailing the NWP starts at the beginning of the full section after scrolling down through the thin vertical section.
Special to The New York Times.
New York Times (1857-1922). New York, N.Y.:Oct 20, 1916. p. 1 (2 pp.)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2007)
October 20, 1916
OPen source for educational purposes
WOMAN ARRESTS SUFFRAGE PICKETS:White House Banner Bearers Protest, but Offer No Resistance. WILL HAVE HEARING Ex-Official of Czar's Government Writes Letter Which Bakmetleff Mission Repudiates. RESENT PICKETS' 'DISLOYALTY' Suffragists Here Continue to Condemn Woman's Party Tactics
Suffragist Lucy Burns and another picketer are arrested outside the White House.
This article describes the arrest of two picketers, one of whom is Lucy Burns, outside the White House. The article relate that Burns was called on by a female officer to go peacefully and relinquish the banner she was carrying with her associate. Burns refused, calling the banner her property and challenging the officers to take it from her. Particularly poignant in the article is the letter written by a Russian émigré praising the women for their staunch adherence to democratic values. This letter is then denounced by the official Russian government representatives in Washington as it would jeopardize their relationship with President Wilson.
Special to The New York Times.
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=96247895&Fmt=10&clientId=13791&RQT=309&VName=HNP
New York Times (1857-1922). New York, N.Y.: Jun 23, 1917. pg. 9, 1 pgs
June 22, 1917
Open for educational purpose
Suffragettes picketing at the East Wing of the White House in 1917.
Picketing the White House
The suffragists who picketed the White House were the first to do so according to the White House Museum. Verbally and physically abused by crowds, the police did little as President Wilson sought to ignore the men and women marching outside.
(Library of Congress)
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/east-wing.htm
1917
Open for educational purposes