| A serious call for voting enfranchisement of American | | | | Although innocent of wrong-doing and defenseless, |
| women was begun in 1848, at the Seneca Falls | | | | they were jailed nonetheless. A recent movie by |
| Convention - after the Civil War, agitation by women | | | | HBO (released on video and DVD), called "Iron Jawed |
| for the ballot becoming increasingly demanding. | | | | Angels", provides a graphic depiction of the struggle |
| However, a rift developed among feminists over the | | | | these women undertook, and the reaction by the |
| proposed 15th Amendment (giving the vote to black | | | | U.S. government - the result being the right of |
| men), when prominent women of society, such as | | | | American women to pull the curtain at polling booths |
| Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, | | | | and to have their say in elections. (Many women |
| refused to endorse the amendment because women | | | | viewers made comments of being ashamed of |
| were not included; while other suffragists, such as | | | | needing the reminder to take the time to vote in |
| Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe argued that women | | | | elections). The documentary film describes the |
| would more readily achieve their goal once the black | | | | aftermath of the event of the women's peaceful |
| man was enfranchised. The conflict resulted in two | | | | picketing protest. |
| separate organizations, the National Woman Suffrage | | | | The women were convicted of "obstructing sidewalk |
| Association, working at the federal level (pressing | | | | traffic", and were jailed at the Occoquan Workhouse |
| also for property rights for women), and the | | | | in Virginia. The warden ordered his guards to teach a |
| American Woman Suffrage Association, which aimed | | | | lesson to the imprisoned suffragists - forty prison |
| to secure the ballot through state legislation. Then, as | | | | guards wielding clubs went on a rampage against the |
| time passed and new leadership and goals developed, | | | | 33 women. By the end of the night, many were |
| the two groups united in 1890 under the name of the | | | | barely alive. For weeks, the women's only water |
| National American Woman Suffrage Association. In | | | | came from an open pail; their food was colorless |
| the same year, Wyoming entered the Union, | | | | slop, infested with worms. Affidavits in the |
| becoming the first state granting women's voting | | | | documentary testify to the events: |
| rights, (having adopted them in 1869, while still a | | | | - Lucy Burns was beaten, then her hands were |
| territory). | | | | chained to the cell bars above her head. She was left |
| As the pioneer suffragists began retiring from the | | | | hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. |
| movement, younger women assumed leadership, one | | | | - Dora Lewis was put into a dark cell, her head |
| of the most politically astute being Carrie Chapman | | | | smashed against an iron bed, knocking her out. Her |
| Catt, who became president of NAWSA in 1915. | | | | cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought she was dead and |
| Another prominent suffragist was Alice Paul, later | | | | suffered a heart attack. |
| forced to resign from NAWSA because of her | | | | - Affidavits describe the guards actions: grabbing, |
| insistence on the use of more militant tactics, of | | | | dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting |
| direct-action, Mrs. Paul then organized the National | | | | and kicking the women. |
| Woman's Party, which began using such strategies as | | | | - When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a |
| mass marches and hunger strikes. Perseverance on | | | | hunger strike, she was tied to a chair, a tube was |
| the part of both organizations eventually achieved | | | | forced down her throat and liquid poured into her until |
| the objective of women's voting rights - on August | | | | she vomited. This type of torture went on for |
| 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment was finally passed by | | | | weeks until word was smuggled out to the press and |
| Congress and signed into law, granting the ballot to | | | | it was stopped. |
| American women. | | | | - The documentary describes Woodrow Wilson and |
| Of interest in this historic development of voting | | | | his staff attempting to persuade a psychiatrist to |
| rights for women, is the fact that the leaders were | | | | declare Alice Paul insane - so that she could be |
| ladies of the upper class. As their protests for | | | | permanently institutionalized - the doctor refusing, |
| women's rights covered all women, including their | | | | "Alice Paul is strong and brave," he said, admonishing |
| own maids, the protests became a powerful political | | | | the men, "That doesn't make her crazy - courage in |
| issue to all women, lower, middle and upper-class. Of | | | | women is often mistaken for insanity." |
| interest also, is the consequence to the | | | | - In the film, Mrs. Pauline Adams is shown in the |
| politically-irresponsible-behavior of the federal | | | | prison garb she wore while serving a sixty-day |
| government, including President Wilson, to non-violent | | | | sentence. |
| picketing of the White House by sign-holding women | | | | Reaction by all viewers, especially women, is extreme |
| - the formation of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties | | | | shock and anger at this little-known part of U.S. |
| Union). | | | | history - with strong personal reactions that no longer |
| Significant in the saga of women's voting rights was | | | | will those women take-for-granted the voting rights |
| the "Night of Terror", Nov. 15, 1917, when a small | | | | obtained for them by these brave women ninety |
| group of women dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's | | | | years ago. |
| White House carrying signs asking for the vote. | | | | |