Today in Herstory: It Will Take More Than Imprisonment to Deter Suffrage

[niyad]

Today in Herstory: It Will Take More Than Imprisonment to Deter Suffrage




November 10, 1917: Today, forty-one brave suffragists answered the question of whether recent mass arrests followed by increasingly lengthy prison sentences would be enough to prevent American citizens from asserting their right to peacefully voice their demand for political equality. Their answer was a unanimous and defiant “No!” Picketers came to Washington, D.C., from as far
away as Oregon, and ranged in age from very young women up to age 73. The demonstrators, each carrying a colorful five-foot banner, made such an impressive sight that they did not encounter the now-customary jeers or attacks as they marched.

After leaving the National Woman’s Party’s headquarters at Cameron House, the suffragists divided themselves into five groups, with the New York contingent making the first advance toward the sidewalk next to the East Gate of the White House.

Captain Flather, of the D.C. Police, had been busy pushing back the waiting crowds who had gathered for the spectacle so that there would be room for streetcars to pass down Pennsylvania Avenue. But when the marchers approached the gate, he abandoned that work, blocked the marchers’ path, and though they were in no way interfering with pedestrian traffic, he told the women to “move on.” Eunice Dana Brannan said she would do no such thing. There were a few moments of stares and silence, while both sides waited to see if the other would back down. No one did, so Captain Flather ordered the women arrested and taken to a “Black Maria” police van for transport to the nearest station house.

As the first group of picketers was being driven off, a second group, headed by Agnes Morey of Massachusetts, and which included women from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, moved on the West Gate. They were met by police as well, arrested, and driven off in a second van. With military precision, a third group, Californian Elizabeth Kent in the lead, and composed of troops from Oregon, Utah and Colorado, immediately moved to the East Gate.

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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/11/10/today-in-herstory-it-will-take-more-than-imprisonment-to-deter-suffrage/