The Night of Terror Women's Right to Vote
The Night of Terror...
One elderly wom an was picked up by two prison guards andt hrown into her cement cell.Her head hit the metal bed frame and she was unconscious – and unattended – so long that her cell mate thought she was dead and suffered a heart attack herself. The other 32 women arrested in front of the Wh
ite House that afternoon were beaten, shackled to the bars of their cells, stripped and humiliated, fed gruel infested with moving maggots, and denied contact with each other and the out side world. Some protested with a hunger strike, and were strapped down and force-fed through an inserted tube.
Where did such cruelty occur? Right here in Northern Virginia, at the Occoquan Workhouse.
What crime earned such brutality? Silently picketing the White House for women’s right to vote.
Now, when the percentage of eligible voters who actually cast a ballot continues to fall, it’s important to reflect on how and when and why women were so long denied. Perhaps when citizens realize the price the Suffragists were willing to pay for the right to vote, they will better value and exercise their franchise.
This lecture will focus on the personalities and singular courage of some of the major figures in the long struggle to ratify the19th Amendment, and on the turning point in that struggle, the “Night of Terror.”
We are offering free admission to this historically important program; please contact TerryHooper (terryhooperknapp@aol.com) to reserve.