"the night of terror" 14 November 1917--women suffrage petitioners jailed, beaten, abused/
Night of Terror
On November 15, 1917, suffragists imprisoned after picketing the White House faced violent attacks at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. Lucy Burns, Dora Lewis, and other members of the National Woman’s Party were brutally beaten and abused, according to affidavits. Lucy Burns was handcuffed and forced to hang from the top of her cell, while some witnesses say Dora Lewis suffered a heart attack. The abuse was ordered by the superintendent, W.H. Whittaker, in an attempt to teach the suffragists a lesson. The courage and conviction expressed by the National Woman’s Party inspired more volunteers to join the picket line and eventually convinced the public and elected officials to support the suffrage amendment. Doris Stevens recorded this and other stories from the campaign for suffrage in Jailed for Freedom, her memoir chronicling the work of the National Woman’s Party. On this historic day, it is important to reflect on the sacrifices of the hundreds of women who gave so much for the right to vote
http://nationalwomansparty.org/sample-second-post/
Night of Terror Leads to Women’s Vote in 1917
(WOMENSENEWS)–American women’s patriotic duty in wartime is to be silent about everything except support for the troops and the Commander in Chief. That was the general idea in 1917. As Woodrow Wilson took office in January, demonstrators took up positions outside the White House, holding round-the-clock vigils demanding the vote for women. In spite of the on-going world war, they refused to step aside or muffle their demands.
Instead, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns and other members of the National Woman’s Party aimed to humiliate the president and expose the hypocrisy of "making the world safe for democracy" when there was none at home. Their banners said, "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty." They hung Wilson in effigy and burned copies of his speeches. Arrests began in June. "Obstructing traffic" was the usual charge, but many prison officials–as well as citizens–considered the suffragists traitors. In the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia, they ate rancid food; were denied medical care and refused visitors. The demonstrators applied for political prisoner status. It was denied.
But the government’s tactic didn’t work. On release from prison, women returned to the White House gates. Their ranks swelled. By November, there were more marches and more arrests. An investigation had been launched into conditions at Occoquan and the activities of its superintendent, W.H. Whittaker, whose special cruelty was well known. Whittaker and his workhouse guards greeted 33 returning protestors on what has become known as the infamous "Night of Terror," November 14, 1917. Forty-four club-wielding men beat, kicked, dragged and choked their charges, which included at least one 73-year-old woman. Women were lifted into the air and flung to the ground. One was stabbed between the eyes with the broken staff of her banner. Lucy Burns was handcuffed to the bars of her cell in a torturous position. Women were dragged by guards twisting their arms and hurled into concrete "punishment cells."
For all the pain, this brutal night may have turned the tide. Less than two weeks later, a court-ordered hearing exposed the beaten women to the world and the judge agreed they had been terrorized for nothing more than exercising their constitutional right to protest. It would take three more years to win the vote, but the courageous women of 1917 had won a new definition of female patriotism.
http://womensenews.org/2004/10/night-terror-leads-womens-vote-1917/
Night of Terror
National Woman's Party members, called the Silent Sentinels, picketing the White House in 1917
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. 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 National Woman’s Party (NWP) began picketing and protesting at the White House in January, when President Wilson took office. NWP members and supporters, young and old, were in front of the White House gates holding banners denouncing President Wilson and the Democratic Party, as well as burning copies of Wilson's speeches. They opposed Wilson because he was perceived to be an enemy of the Women’s Rights Movement. The motives of these suffragists was to promote women’s rights, their main focus being their right to vote. The pickets continued day-in and day-out, and in June they were warned by the chief of police, Major Pullman, that if the protesting continued, there would be arrests.[2] The women were unrelenting, and just as the chief of police warned, arrests and imprisonment for "obstructing traffic" begun.[1] The first arrests were only three day sentences, then after continued protests many women were sentenced to a 60-day imprisonment. Shortly after many women finished their 60-day sentence, 33 more returning prisoners experienced an event known as the "Night of Terror".[2]
Example banners
A few examples of the banners they carried:
"Democracy Should Begin at Home"
"The time has come to conquer or submit, for us there can be but one choice. We have made it." (quotation from Wilson)
"Mr. President, what will you do for woman suffrage?"
"Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?"
"We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments."
"Kaiser Wilson, have you forgotten your sympathy with the poor Germans because they were not self-governed? 20,000,000 American women are not self-governed. Take the beam out of your own eye." (comparing Wilson to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany).
Nature of imprisonment
Aside from the fact that the women were illegally arrested for practicing their constitutional right to protest, their human rights were violated continuously throughout their imprisonments. There was continued mistreatment in the form of harsh living conditions, food infested with worms, being denied visitors, "punishment cells" and denied medical care when many of the women were ill and some very old. The women were beaten and brutally tortured.[1] Many women went on a hunger strike, sparked by the co-founder of the NWP and initiator of the Silent Sentinels, Alice Paul. These women were placed in solitary confinement and subject to force-feeding.
. . . .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_Terror_(event)
The Night of Terror, November 15, 1917
Women's Right to Vote
A message from Nancy Milliken, director of the CoE
I received this interesting description of the “Night of Terror” associated with the women’s suffrage movement. I don’t know who originated and wrote the comments for this set of historical photos but they clearly captured the struggle associated with women’s right to vote and the “Night of Terror” in particular. Please read, reflect and send it to others as the author intended. And VOTE!
Women in this country, yes, the United States of America, have only had the right to vote since the 19th amendment to the Constitution was ratified on August 18, 1920. Yes, women have only had the right to vote for a mere 90 years and there were many hard fought battles that made this possible.
Please pass this message along and encourage all of your women friends to exercise this right every election year.
This is the story of our Mothers and Grandmothers who lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
. . . .
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
. . . .
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
http://www.coe.ucsf.edu/coe/news/night_terror.html