Rightfully Hers Part 4

 

Record of the Month!

For the month of November, to close our extended feature of the National Archives pop-up exhibit Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote, we are displaying a copy of the 19^th Amendment. While the 19^th Amendment is not part of the Licking County Records & Archives’ collection, it is being featured for November to celebrate the anniversary of the first national election in which Women of all states could vote. As part of Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote the National Archives created a digital exhibit with more resources and teaching tools available through the following link: (https://museum.archives.gov/rightfully-hers).

Eventually the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage renamed itself the National Woman’s Party (NWP). The NWP began introducing the more militant tactics used by British suffragettes. These tactics included picketing the Whitehouse and other incumbent Democrats. The ladies picketing the Whitehouse became known as the Silent Sentinels, because they were always present regardless of the conditions outside. In 1916, Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first women ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Her election forced some prominent Democrats to publicly support the idea of women’s suffrage, though the Democratic establishment and President Wilson remained apathetic. Meanwhile, President Wilson’s second daughter, Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre, worked vigorously in support of women’s suffrage.

The NWP continued to urge suffragists to picket the Whitehouse and other strategic government buildings in spite of a lack of police protection and regular attacks. During one demonstration in 1917, Alice Paul and other NWP members were attacked by a mob for carrying new banners accusing “Kaiser Wilson” of autocracy. Alice and the NWP members were arrested and jailed for “obstructing traffic” when they would not surrender their banners to the mob. While incarcerated, Alice and her compatriots began a hunger strike to be recognized as political prisoners. The women were brutally force fed a mixture of raw eggs and milk through tubes forced into their noses and mouths.

Further, after being transferred to the Occoquan prison workhouse, prison Superintendent W. H. Whittaker and his guards decided to teach the women a lesson in what would later be dubbed the “Night of Terror.” On the evening of November 14, 1917 Whittaker and the guards burst into the women’s rooms, beating them and dragging them down hallways to be thrown into cold, filthy, dark cells. Lucy Burns had her hands shackled to the top of her cell, forcing her to stand all night, while the guards continued to threaten her. Another women was twice slammed onto the arms of an iron bench. 

Meanwhile, suffragist Dora Lewis lost consciousness after her head was intentionally smashed into an iron bed stand. Lewis’ cellmate, Alice Cosu suffered a heart attack from the shock of the violence; she was not allowed to receive medical care until the following morning. The suffragists were further physically and psychologically tortured. The brutal treatment of the imprisoned suffragists at the hands of Whittaker and his men shocked everyone, especially President Wilson.

President Wilson began to call for women’s suffrage as an urgent wartime measure. The Amendment originally drafted by Susan B. Anthony was introduced in Congress with President Wilson’s full support. The Amendment passed Congress and was sent to the states for ratification on June 4, 1919. The following year the League of Women Voters formed to campaign for ratification of the 19^th Amendment, as well as provide non-partisan voter education to women.

In the summer of 1920, the 19^th Amendment was one state away from ratification. The deciding vote would come from Tennessee General Assemblyman Harry Burns. Burns received a note from his mother who implored him to “be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt [Carrie Chapman Catt] put the ‘rat’ in ratification.” Additionally, there are stories of Mother Burns further telling her son via phone that there would be no more home cooked meals if he opposed ratification, though these stories are unsubstantiated. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36^th state to ratify the 19^th Amendment, causing it to become a certified law enshrining fuller citizenship and suffrage for women in the Constitution.

Despite the 19^th Amendment’s ratification, African American, Native and Asian women were still denied voting rights through individual state laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, horrific violence, and lynching. While there was some help from Republican Party officials in registering African American women to vote in states like Indiana, it would not be until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that African American and other women of color would be able to register and vote freely across the country. At the centennial of the 19^th Amendment, the story of the Suffrage Movement continues to inspire to all who seek equality. However, it is critically important that all aspects of the Suffrage Movement are remembered, both positive and negative. The discrimination within the Suffrage Movement and the continuing fight for equality are reminders of the complex and contradictory nature of our society.