Today in Herstory: DC Court of Appeals Declares Arrests of Suffragists Illegal (4 mar1918)

[niyad]

Today in Herstory: DC Court of Appeals Declares Arrests of Suffragists Illegal

March 4, 1918: A major victory today for 218 suffragists arrested during last year for picketing along the White House fence! The Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia has just declared their arrests illegal and voided all convictions of the “Silent Sentinel” pickets handed down by the local Police Court. The picketing began on January 10, 1917, the day after a delegation of 300 suffragists had an unsatisfactory meeting with President Wilson.

A number of those at the meeting were sufficiently offended by the President’s general attitude, and his unwillingness to either officially endorse the Susan B. Anthony (nationwide woman suffrage) Amendment, or help the woman suffrage cause despite his personal support for it in principle, that they took the unprecedented step of posting pickets, dubbed “Silent Sentinels” by Harriot Stanton Blatch, outside the White House gates. Though choosing not to speak, they made their message clear through large banners emblazoned with questions such as: “MR. PRESIDENT, WHAT WILL YOU DO FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE?” and “MR. PRESIDENT, HOW LONG MUST WOMEN WAIT FOR LIBERTY?”

Though relations between the Sentinels, the White House, passers-by and the police were quite friendly at first, U.S. entry into the Great War last April 6th sparked hostility from many on the street toward those who would criticize our President in time of war. Also, the pickets’ daily reminders of President Wilson’s hypocrisy in praising the virtues of democracy overseas while doing nothing to bring its benefits to the women of America proved quite embarrassing to the Administration, so the atmosphere grew increasingly hostile.

Arrests began on June 22nd of last year, with Lucy Burns and Katherine Morey charged with “blocking traffic” on the sidewalk. The picketing – and arrests – continued, with 41 taken into custody on one day alone. Convictions, then sentences from a few days to as long as seven months in the District Jail or infamous Occoquan Workhouse followed. Those sent to Occoquan on November 14th were subjected to the most brutality and indignities by the guards. The “Night of Terror” when they arrived was the worst, with, among many other incidents, Burns manacled to the bars of her cell with her arms above her head, and some women thrown into their cells so forcefully that they struck their head on the wall or the metal bed frame.
. . . .

http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2015/03/04/today-in-herstory-dc-court-of-appeals-declares-arrests-of-suffragists-illegal/