The Silent Sentinels of the National Woman’s Party picketed Wilson’s White House for women’s suffrage for two and a half years between January 1917 and June 1919. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns led over 2,000 women who used silence as a protest tactic. They carried signs asking Wilson to support suffrage for women and calling out his hypocrisy in advocating for freedom for WWI countries while denying votes for women.
The “Night of Terror” occurred on November 14, 1917, when police arrested thirty-three protestors for “obstructing traffic.” Their sentence was sixty days in the Occoquan Workhouse. They demanded to be treated as political prisoners rather than criminals. Instead, Superintendent William H. Whittaker called on nearly forty male guards to “teach the women a lesson.” The guards attacked the women with clubs, brutalizing them and throwing them into cells. According to affidavits taken during a later investigation, women were dragged, choked, pinched, and kicked, with some receiving worse treatment. Dora Lewis’ arms were twisted behind her back, then slammed her into an iron bed twice before leaving her unconscious on the floor. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, believed that Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack but denied medical treatment until morning. Guards repeatedly slammed Dorothy Day over the back of an iron bench.
One bar of soap was provided for all the women, some of whom had syphilis and other diseases. The authorities withheld toothbrushes, combs, and handkerchiefs from the protesters. The corn mush often contained maggots and worms. Nearly raw salt pork was served. Many women began hunger strikes. Many arrestees resorted to hunger strikes. In response to this, the guards force-fed the women raw eggs and milk, causing them to become ill. By the time the women were released, many were too weak to walk on their own.
When the 19th Amendment became law on August 26, 1920, 26 million adult female Americans were nominally eligible to vote. However, full electoral equality was still decades away for many women of color who counted among that number.
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