More Than A Magazine, A Movement
November 8, 1917: The already outrageous treatment of peaceful suffragist pickets by the authorities became even more disgraceful today. Alice Paul, serving two sentences totaling seven months for picketing outside the White House fence, has now begun to undergo force-feeding, imposed on her 78 hours after beginning a hunger strike. She has been serving her […]
Regardless of how many more unjustified arrests are made, or how long any future sentences may be, picketing will continue until President Wilson endorses the Anthony Amendment and works to bring democracy to the women of America with the same zeal that he has shown for bringing it to the citizens of other nations.
A second consecutive day of victory for the “Silent Sentinels” who have been picketing along the White House fence in favor of woman suffrage! The last of the imprisoned pickets had their sentences commuted today by the same judge who had originally imposed the outrageously long prison terms on them.
A travesty of justice in Washington D.C.’s Police Court today, as Judge Alexander Mullowney gave 31 “Silent Sentinels” outrageous sentences for trying to peacefully picket outside the White House fence on November 10th and 12th in support of woman suffrage.
But if conventional methods fail, the National Woman’s Party knows how to escalate. And this time they have a new ally. Barbara Ireton, president of the National Capital Area Chapter of the National Organization for Women, said it was decided at meetings held today in Washington and New York that if necessary, a ring of women will surround the property to protect it if the House passes the condemnation bill and President Johnson doesn’t veto it. So, history may repeat itself 51 years after the National Woman’s Party’s “Silent Sentinels” began going to jail in D.C. for peacefully protesting along the White House fence to pressure President Wilson into endorsing and lobbying for the Anthony Amendment. Updates will follow when there are further developments in this confrontation.
As if the National Woman’s Party didn’t already have enough trouble due to increasingly outrageous sentences handed down in court to its “Silent Sentinels” for picketing President Wilson at the White House, the landlord has just decreed that the N.W.P. must be out of Cameron House within three months.
Of course, more conservative methods of achieving “Votes for Women” are endorsed by suffragists like Carrie Chapman Catt and organizations such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Their efforts clearly help our cause of equal suffrage as well, but some militant action is also vital to victory. So the courage and determination of Alice Paul’s “Silent Sentinels” should be praised, and their efforts supported until the Anthony Amendment, which bans discrimination at the polls on account of sex, is safely and permanently in the U.S. Constitution.
Like the N.W.P.’s “Silent Sentinels” who picketed the White House from 1917 to 1919 to pressure Democratic President Woodrow Wilson into first endorsing, then actively working for the Anthony Amendment, today’s protesters are deliberate and dignified. There is no heckling or harassment of delegates as they arrive or leave. No speeches are being made. There is simply a long and impressive line of women carrying powerful messages on banners.
January 11, 1917: Alice Paul spent her 32nd birthday in typically active style today, coordinating the efforts of the “Silent Sentinels” who are picketing President Wilson.
November 28, 1917: A second consecutive day of victory for the “Silent Sentinels” who have been picketing along the White House fence in favor of woman suffrage!