On January 9, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson announced his support for a women’s suffrage constitutional amendment, reversing years of opposition in the face of mounting public outrage over the treatment of suffragist prisoners. Wilson’s reversal came less than two months after the …
On November 14, 1917, 33 suffragist prisoners at Occoquan Workhouse in Fairfax County, Virginia, endured a night of systematic torture and abuse that became known as the “Night of Terror.” On orders from prison warden W. H. Whittaker, workhouse guards brutalized the women in what …
Lucy BurnsDora LewisAlice CosuW. H. WhittakerAlice Paul+1 morewomens-suffragestate-violencetorturepolitical-prisonersinstitutional-brutality
On June 22, 1917, police arrested six suffragists for picketing the White House, initiating a campaign of state repression against the Silent Sentinels that would eventually result in 168 National Woman’s Party members serving time in prison. The arrests came after the United States entered …
Alice PaulLucy BurnsNational Woman's PartyWoodrow WilsonWashington DC Policewomens-suffragestate-repressionpolitical-prisonerscivil-disobedienceselective-prosecution
On January 10, 1917, Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party (NWP) became the first people ever to picket the White House, initiating an 18-month campaign of nonviolent protest that would eventually involve over 2,000 women. The “Silent Sentinels,” as they became known, stood …
Alice PaulLucy BurnsNational Woman's PartyWoodrow Wilsonwomens-suffragecivil-disobediencemilitant-tacticsdemocratic-expansionwilson-administration
On November 14, 1916, Inez Milholland collapsed and died at age 30 during a western suffrage lecture tour, making her a martyr for the women’s suffrage movement. Milholland, the glamorous lawyer and activist who had led the March 3, 1913 suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. astride a white …
On March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson’s presidential inauguration, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, newly-appointed chairs of NAWSA’s Congressional Committee, organized the first major civil rights march on Washington, D.C. Lawyer and activist Inez Milholland, riding a white horse …
Alice PaulLucy BurnsInez MilhollandIda B. WellsWoodrow Wilsonwomens-suffragestate-violenceracial-segregationmedia-strategyinstitutional-resistance