Picketing for Suffrage

Ten suffragists were arrested on August 28, 1917, as they picketed the White House. The protesters were there in an effort to pressure President Woodrow Wilson to support the proposed “Anthony Amendment” to the Constitution that would guarantee women the right to vote. Daily picketing began on January 10, 1917. During that year, more than 1,000 women from across the country joined the picket line outside the White House. Between June and November, 218 protesters from 26 states were arrested and charged with “obstructing sidewalk traffic.” Of those arrested, 97 spent time in either the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia or in the District of Columbia jail. Initially, protesters stood silently, holding placards inscribed with relatively tame messages such as “Mr. President, what will you do for Woman Suffrage?” and “How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty?” President Wilson maintained decorum, greeting the protesters with a tip of the hat as he rode, his wife at his side, through the White House gates.

The First Picket Line-College Day in the picket line. Feb. 1917. Votes for Women: The Struggle for Women’s Suffrage: Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress. Prints & Photographs Division

By late spring, the picketers brandished more provocative placards. They took advantage of the United States’ April 6 entry into the war in Europe to press their case. Bystanders erupted in violence on June 20, when picketers met Russian envoys with signs that proclaimed the United States a democracy in name only.

The White House protest reflected a rift between the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), led by Carrie Chapman Catt, and the more confrontational National Woman’s Party, led by former NAWSA member Alice Paul.

Having spent time in a British jail for her participation in suffrage protests in England, Paul was no stranger to confrontation or its potential value to a political movement. In “Alice Paul Talks,” she describes her experience during a hunger strike, a tactic she later employed at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia:

Alice Paul, full-length portrait…. Sept. 3, 1920. Votes for Women: The Struggle for Women’s Suffrage: Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress. Prints & Photographs Division

I resorted to the hunger strike method twice…When the forcible feeding was ordered 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 murderer, whose duty it was to keep me still. Then the prison doctor, assisted by two woman attendants, placed a rubber tube up my nostrils and pumped liquid food through it into the stomach. Twice a day for a month, from November 1 to December 1, this was done.

“Alice Paul Talks.” Philadelphia Tribune, January 1910. Scrapbooks of Elizabeth Smith Miller and Anne Fitzhugh Miller. Scrapbook 8. Part of the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection. Rare Book & Special Collections Division

Influenced in part by the publicity generated by the White House pickets and subsequent arrests and forced feedings of women protesters, President Wilson lent his support to the suffrage amendment in January 1918. The amendment was approved by Congress shortly thereafter. Women achieved the right to vote with the August 18, 1920, ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which is commemorated by Women’s Equality Day.

Learn More

The Library’s exhibit Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote celebrates the efforts of those who participated in the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and who continued fighting until the Nineteenth Amendment granting women the right to vote became a reality over 70 years later.
Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman’s Party includes photographs that document the National Woman’s Party (NWP) push for ratification of the 19th Amendment as well as its later campaign for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Included are a “timeline of key events” in the history of the NWP as well as essays on major figures of the Party and tactics and techniques used during their suffrage campaign.
Search Chronicling America, a collection of historic American newspapers, to follow the women’s suffrage movement and the activities of those who led the campaign to secure the right to vote for women. Start with the Topics in Chronicling America features on Alice Paul, Susan B. Anthony, and the Nineteenth Amendment.
View One Hundred Years Toward Suffrage: An Overview to learn about key events in the history of the women’s suffrage movement. This timeline is part of the collection Votes for Women: The Struggle for Women’s Suffrage: Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress.
Read documents related to the women’s suffrage movement in the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection. This collection consists of books and pamphlets documenting the suffrage campaign. The bulk of the collection is derived from the library of Carrie Chapman Catt, president of NAWSA from 1900 to 1904 and again from 1915 to 1920. She donated the collection to the Library of Congress in 1938.
View the American Women Series of research guides to learn about the extensive collections of materials found throughout the Library. Each guide focuses on the resources available to study women’s history and culture through a subject or format approach as provided by the different reading rooms at the Library.
Scrapbooks of Elizabeth Smith Miller and Anne Fitzhugh Miller, part of the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, document the activities of the Geneva (NY) Political Equality Club, founded in 1897 by Elizabeth Smith Miller and her daughter Anne Fitzhugh Miller, as well as efforts at the state, national, and international levels to win the vote for women.
Search Today in History on the term Seneca Falls to learn more about that landmark 1848 convention on women’s rights. Other Today in History features on woman’s suffrage include the 1854 Ohio Woman’s Rights Convention, the 1869 decision by the Wyoming Territory to grant women the right to vote, the 1884 address by Susan B. Anthony to the House Judiciary Committee, and the 1885 birth of Alice Paul.
Explore resources provided on the Teachers Page related to women’s suffrage and history such as the Women’s Suffrage primary source set and the lesson plans on Women’s History.

loc.gov

sad to know that when push came to shove they decided the first females to vote should be white

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The President introduces Elena Kagan

03/19/2022 Nativegrl77

Today, it is my great honor to nominate our Solicitor General, and my friend, Elena Kagan, to be the next justice of the United States Supreme Court.

As I send my nomination to the Senps://youtu.be/hDO0W6QxsN

https://youtu.be/hDO0W6QxsN4

Elena is widely regarded as one of the best legal minds of her generation — earning praise from across the ideological spectrum throughout her career. Above all, she is a trailblazer. She wasn’t just the first woman to serve as dean of Harvard Law School — she was one of its most beloved and successful leaders, building a reputation for openness to other viewpoints and skill in working with others to build consensus. These were some of the many reasons why I selected her to be my Solicitor General, the nation’s chief advocate — the first woman to hold that post as well.

Her work as Solicitor General has allowed me to see firsthand just why Elena is particularly well-suited to the Court: She has not only a keen understanding of the law, but also one that is rooted in a deep awareness of its impact on people’s lives. Last year, she made that clear — choosing the Citizens United case as her first to argue before the Supreme Court, defending bipartisan campaign finance reform against special interests seeking to spend unlimited money to influence our elections.

Now, I look forward to the prospect of Elena taking her seat alongside Justice Ginsberg and Justice Sotomayor. For the first time, our nation’s highest court would include three women, ensuring a Court that would be more inclusive, more representative, more reflective of us as a people than ever before.

When Justice Stevens wrote me to announce his retirement, I knew that the Court would be losing a standard bearer. And I felt a responsibility to nominate an individual capable of being that same guiding force, a consistent voice of reason on the Court.

I am certain I have made the right choice. As you learn more about Elena, I am confident you’ll see what I do — that she is a voice we need on the Supreme Court.

Please watch the message — and share it with others:

http://my.barackobama.com/ElenaKagan

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

~ Culture & History, ~ In the Library

in the Library … Elijah Rising – by Lyn LeJune

03/19/2022 Nativegrl77

Have you gotten your copy?

About the Author

Lyn LeJeune is the author of several novels. Her stories have been published in literary journals such as Big Muddy: A Journal of The Mississippi River Valley (East Missouri University), The Bishop s House Review (Duke), The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Nantahala, Milestone, Identity Theory, Our Stories, Demolition Magazine and Stone Table Review, and The Best of Our Stories. She was recipient of the Paris Writers Institute Scholarship for study in Paris, France. Lyn studied writing at Skidmore, where she worked with Marilynne Robinson and Mary Gordon, Duke, and the Breadloaf Writers Conference. Lyn routinely holds seminars on writing and development of oral history projects and has a gift for one-on-one conversation, communicating with large audiences, and working with smaller audiences in venues such as book clubs and seminars.

One of Lyn s first readers for Elijah Rising was Howard Zinn, who commented: I read it in two sittings, became involved in the story. You write very well! Best wishes, Howard ZinnLyn is 100% Cajun and makes the best gumbo in South Louisiana.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

1917 – The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Adamson Act that made the eight-hour workday for railroads constitutional

03/19/2022 Nativegrl77

he Adamson Act, establishing the eight-hour day for interstate railroad workers; and measures for federal aid to education and highway construction. With such a program behind him, Wilson was able to rally a new coalition of Democrats, former Progressives, independents, social workers, and a large minority…

For the complete post got to: britannica.com