Letter 28 - A Full Scale Riot on Pennsylvania Avenue (Part 2 of the Alice Paul story)
Hello Bregdan Woman!
After being arrested, imprisoned, and force fed through tubes down her throat, Alice Paul was ready for the next step…
This is Part 2 of Alice Paul’s story. If you didn’t read Part 1, check Monday’s post. You don’t want to miss this story of one of my heroines!
Let’s keep rolling…
Alice Paul, radically changed by her time in England, returned to the USA in 1910. She was determined to increase her influence in the country. She understood the power of education to enable her to do just that.
This was a woman who didn’t do things half-way. She went all in…
She reenrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, pursued her doctorate, spoke about the British suffrage movement, and completed a dissertation – a comprehensive overview of the history of the legal status (or the lack thereof) of women in the USA.
Of course she did…
Her dissertation completed; she joined the National American Women’s Suffrage Association. She had experience and credentials, and she was determined to get America’s attention with her radical deeds.
Don’t forget the motto that had driven her during her time in England.
DEEDS NOT WORDS
Alice took charge of working for a federal suffrage amendment. The NAWSA was working toward enfranchisement state by state, but Alice’s vision was much bigger. She put her focus on the federal amendment.
Alice wasn’t satisfied with women gaining rights state by state, because that strategy assured the possibility those rights could also be taken away. She was focused on getting it ALL.
Her goal was a constitutional amendment.
Two years after her return, she initiated and organized a publicity event guaranteed to gain maximum national attention.
The women succeeded – but paid a high price.
Here’s what happened…
More than eight thousand courageous women joined a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue on March 13, 1913 – the day before President-elect Woodrow Wilson’s inaugural parade. It was the first civil rights march on Washington, DC in American history.
It’s fair to say every woman who participated was a Bregdan Woman.
Alice Paul had worked tirelessly to make the event a perfect day – an example of the passion women had for the vote.
I want you to read slowly, so that you can envision what actually happened that day.
Eight thousand women gathered with signs, banners, and determined courage. They were laughing and talking, but that didn’t cover their nervousness. As they looked down the route, they saw the angry, equally determined looks on the men who lined Pennsylvania Avenue. They were prepared for pushback, but they hadn’t anticipated what happened.
Washington, DC was full of men enraged by the audacity of women believing they should be able to vote. Who did they think they were? The place of women in the USA, at that time, was to support the men who knew best. Ugghh!
The men were determined to stop the parade. No matter what it took.
Within minutes of the parade starting, it turned into a full-scale riot. The crowd of men began to shout insults and obscenities. The yelling and ridicule quickly turned into physical violence and assault. The women were grabbed, spat on, tripped, and shoved to the ground.
I can easily imagine their terror as enraged men attacked them from all sides and angles.
They kept marching, picking themselves up and forging ahead.
Police officers merely stood by and watched as thousands of women were assaulted. Some of the police participated.
It was a sad, terrible moment in the history of the USA.
Alice had feared opposition and knew the police would probably not protect them. She had insisted calvary troops be on standby. Finally, D.C. officials called them in.
The calvary pushed back the rioting men and opened the way for the women to continue. When they eventually reached Continental Hall, hours behind schedule, every woman was some combination of filthy, battered, exhausted, unnerved, insulted, furious and freezing.
Over one hundred had to be hospitalized.
Thousands went home with cuts, bruises, and bloodied clothing.
In my book, every woman there was a heroine. A powerful Bregdan Woman.
Alice had been horrified by what happened, but it didn’t take her long to realize the riot was the best thing that could have happened.
A perfect parade would have been in the papers for a day.
Instead, the suffrage riot was in the headlines for weeks. Editorials denounced the behavior of the crowd. A Congressional Committee held hearings on what went wrong.
While the women recovered from the beatings; suffrage took front and center stage for both politicians and the general public.
It also revealed descension within the ranks.
The Washington March showed that Alice Paul was more than willing to push the bounds of convention. It energized a new generation of activists and sowed the seeds for more visible and aggressive tactics over the next years.
DEEDS NOT WORDS
Let’s look at how this Bregdan Woman’s actions impacted history…
The 1913 parade set the stage for thousands of political marches to follow: every civil rights group that has marched on Washington, every activist who has paraded through the corridors of federal power to gain attention for their cause, every energetic citizen who has rallied in the shadow of the Capitol, has literally followed in the footsteps of these courageous Bregdan Women.
Not for the first time, the differing opinions of women fighting for Suffrage created conflict. Alice Paul’s approach was considered by many other women to be too radical.
The end result was that Alice Paul separated from NAWSA and formed a new party in 1916 - the National Woman’s Party (NWP).
After almost 100 years of women fighting for the right to vote, she was determined to do whatever it took.
The National Woman’s Party took quick action to create public attention. In early 1917, they organized the first public picketing in front of the White House in the nation’s history.
Until Alice took action, no one (especially a woman!) had dared to publicly protest the President of the US in such a manner. The sheer audacity was breath-takingly awesome!
Deeds Not Words!
Alice knew radical times demanded radical action. She definitely got the attention she was after!
For me… I learned how grateful I should be for my right to vote! I thought I knew a lot about the fight for suffrage. I’ve learned so much writing about Alice Paul!
The NWP women called themselves the Silent Sentinels. They stood quietly outside the White House in non-violent protest. They didn’t speak or interact with bystanders – they simply held their banners. Six days a week, no matter the weather.
The banners asked, “Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait For Liberty?”
In the beginning, President Wilson treated the women with bemused condescension. Suffrage for women was not something he supported.
Here’s something you need to understand…
During the suffrage battle, there was much going on in the world. Nothing happens in a bubble.
World War I broke out in 1914. Millions were wounded or dying across the ocean. President Wilson proclaimed USA neutrality. Many Americans supported this policy of nonintervention. So far, war hadn’t reached the shores of the USA.
American’s feelings began to change, however, when a German U-boat sank the British ocean liner, Lusitania, in 1915. Almost 2000 people died – including 128 Americans. When a telegram was revealed that threatened an alliance between Germany and Mexico against America, Wilson asked Congress to declare war.
Americans were not interested in entering a foreign war. It took a year of persuading.
During all this time, the Silent Sentinels continued their protest.
America continued to be impacted by the war abroad. With the toll in sunken U.S. merchant ships and civilian casualties rising, America entered World War I in April of 1917.
Calls for unity and patriotism rang through America. Few believed the suffragists would dare picket a wartime president. They didn’t know Alice Paul.
Alice was determined to maintain momentum. As far as she was concerned, now was the perfect time to challenge President Wilson. Why was he calling for support of Democracy abroad, but not providing full democracy at home?
It was a valid question.
It was a question that deserved answers, but not everyone saw it that way.
Alice’s decision to continue the protest created horrific scenarios.
I’m not going to tell you today, however.
Yes, Alice Paul’s story is a 3 –parter. Hey, I’m a novelist. I could diminish the story by shortening it, or I can tell you the rest of the story on Friday! Obviously, that is the choice I’m making.
I hope that as you read or listen, you’re being as challenged as I was when I wrote it.
So, until tomorrow…
What will you do to be a Bregdan Woman?
What will you do today to impact history??
I’m on this journey with you!
Ginny