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A date we should all remember: November 14, 1917 - Night of Terror
I know this is 7 days early but since it is voting related I thought I should post about it today
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_Terror_%28event%29
The Night of Terror occurred on November 14, 1917 at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. A group of 33 female protesters, members of the Silent Sentinels who picketed the White House daily to ask for voting rights for women, were brutally tortured and beaten by the workhouse guards and the superintendent, W.H. Whittaker.[1] These women were mostly members of the National Woman's Party (NWP), an organization led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns that fought for women’s suffrage.
In 1917 the Silent Sentinels became the first organization to picket the White House, asking for women’s rights. They held banners denouncing President Woodrow Wilson and burned copies of his speeches, because they considered him to be an enemy of the women’s rights movement.[citation needed] The unrelenting suffragists, who began protesting in January when Wilson took office, were prompted by the chief of police to stop picketing. The women did not stop, and arrests for "obstructing traffic" began in June. The women were imprisoned in the Occoquan Workhouse. After three days the women were released and they went back to the White House to continue protesting.[2]
By November arrests began again, and on November 14, superintendent of the workhouse, W.H. Whittaker welcomed the 33 returning prisoners by brutally torturing and beating the women.[citation needed]This brutal greeting is known as the "Night of Terror", but it was not the only time the women were mistreated during their imprisonment. There was continued mistreatment in the form of harsh living conditions, rancid food, being denied medical care when many of the women were ill and some very old, being denied visitors, and "punishment cells".[1] Many women went on a hunger strike, sparked by the co-founder of the NWP, Alice Paul. These women were placed in solitary confinement and subject to force-feeding.
The Night of Terror occurred on November 14, 1917 at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. A group of 33 female protesters, members of the Silent Sentinels who picketed the White House daily to ask for voting rights for women, were brutally tortured and beaten by the workhouse guards and the superintendent, W.H. Whittaker.[1] These women were mostly members of the National Woman's Party (NWP), an organization led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns that fought for women’s suffrage.
In 1917 the Silent Sentinels became the first organization to picket the White House, asking for women’s rights. They held banners denouncing President Woodrow Wilson and burned copies of his speeches, because they considered him to be an enemy of the women’s rights movement.[citation needed] The unrelenting suffragists, who began protesting in January when Wilson took office, were prompted by the chief of police to stop picketing. The women did not stop, and arrests for "obstructing traffic" began in June. The women were imprisoned in the Occoquan Workhouse. After three days the women were released and they went back to the White House to continue protesting.[2]
By November arrests began again, and on November 14, superintendent of the workhouse, W.H. Whittaker welcomed the 33 returning prisoners by brutally torturing and beating the women.[citation needed]This brutal greeting is known as the "Night of Terror", but it was not the only time the women were mistreated during their imprisonment. There was continued mistreatment in the form of harsh living conditions, rancid food, being denied medical care when many of the women were ill and some very old, being denied visitors, and "punishment cells".[1] Many women went on a hunger strike, sparked by the co-founder of the NWP, Alice Paul. These women were placed in solitary confinement and subject to force-feeding.
This is what women went through to ensure our right to vote. Yes Susan B Anthony was the first to secure women's right to vote, but it was on a state level. By the time World War I rolled around (about 20+ years after the first state gave women the rights to vote), only 9 states had given full voter rights to women.
Alice Paul, Lucy Burn and the National Women's Party realized that if women were to achieve the right to vote that a Constitutional Amendment was needed. These were not violent protestors but women who stood silently outside the White House protesting; many times holding banners that quoted President Woodrow Wilson's thoughts on Democracy and showing his hypocrisy that he would not support Suffrage.
Tomorrow, make sure that every woman you know gets out to vote EVEN if it is for someone that perhaps you might not support. Women suffered and died to ensure that every one in this country had the right to vote!
Edited to include the order of which women received their right to vote
http://constitutioncenter.org/timeline/html/cw08_12159.html
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