Women used many different methods to earn the right to vote in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. One method that was used was organizing a parade. A girl named Alice Paul and her best friend, Lucy Burns, had an idea to hold a parade for women’s suffrage They went to factories recruiting as many females as they could. The parade was held in Washington D.C. on the day that Woodrow Wilson was being put in office as president because the girls knew there would be a big crowd then. Many of the women held flags or signs while dressed in costumes. A lady in white rode proudly on top of a big white horse to lead the parade and to show the strength, along with the beauty, of all those participating. After a while, men grew outraged and stormed in to …show more content…
The girls even got to meet with President Wilson. He didn’t want to support the women and hardly listened to the women’s pleads. Another tactic that women used was forming picket lines outside of the White House. Many girls were stationed by the president’s home to try to get Woodrow Wilson to support women’s right to vote. Alice Paul stood out there and read quotes said by the president that were about democracy, freedom and rights, then burned them to show how they meant nothing to him. Wilson did not follow what he said was right, so the women decided to use that against him to fight for their rights. They stood there throughout summer, fall and even winter, standing on hot bricks to keep warm. and every morning the president would tip his hat to them, not showing how much he hated those women. After World War I the people who were in the picket lines got arrested for “obstructing traffic” and were thrown in prison. A third method of obtaining women’s suffrage was the hunger strike. While in prison, Alice decided to strike against the development and not eat. Once everyone else in the facility realized what she was doing, they joined the hunger strike with
...st through a 22-day hunger strike. During this time, however, doctors tortured her and forcibly fed her. When reporters released stories regarding her situation and the many others who followed in her footsteps, the public was outraged and “the women received widespread sympathy from the public and politicians” (18). Though militant in her tactics, Alice Paul accomplished what she set out to do – gain the public’s attention by any means necessary.
Although these women did not live to cast their votes in an election, their hard work did pay off by obtaining women the right to own property and fight for custody of their children in a court of law. In this day women cannot imagine being thrown out of their homes because their husband had died or being forced to leave their children in order to escape an abusive relationship.
For many years people fought and struggled for change to make the world a better place. People struggle for change to feel equal by actively fighting for human rights, they urge people to abide by the rule of law to accomplish these equal rights, and they fight for a change in the future to ensure that the work they have done is not destroyed by the younger generations. Thanks to the hard work of our ancestors, the freedom that we are granted benefits many people around the world today. If it were not for their struggle we would not have some of the privileges we have today, such as the right to vote. Alice Paul and Ida B. Wells are both exemplary examples of advocates for the women’s suffrage. They marched and protested for the right to vote which eventually led to the 19th amendment. It took a very strong leader to accomplish this goal, a person that believed in the rule of law and a change for the future. These women are just two examples of people who were self motivated for a change. Many other people struggled for a change in what they believed in,and if they fought hard enough their efforts
In the 1840’s, most of American women were beginning to become agitated by the morals and values that were expected of womanhood. “Historians have named this the ’Cult of True Womanhood’: that is, the idea that the only ‘true’ woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned exclusively with home and family” (History.com). Voting was only the right of men, but women were on the brink to let their voices be heard. Women pioneers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott wrote eleven resolutions in The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments; this historical document demanded abolishment of any laws that authorized unequal treatment of women and to allow for passage of a suffrage amendment.
During America's early history, women were denied some of the rights to well-being by men. For example, married women couldn't own property and had no legal claim to any money that they might earn, and women hadn't the right to vote. They were expected to focus on housework and motherhood, and didn't have to join politics. On the contrary, they didn't have to be interested in them. Then, in order to ratify this amendment they were prompted to a long and hard fight; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the 19th century, some generations of women's suffrage supporters lobbied to achieve what a lot of Americans needed: a radical change of the Constitution. The movement for women's rights began to organize after 1848 at the national level. In July of that year, reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton(1815-1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), along with Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) and other activists organized the first convention for women's rights at Seneca Falls, New York. More than 300 people, mostly women but also some men, attended it. Then, they raised public awar...
After the success of antislavery movement in the early nineteenth century, activist women in the United States took another step toward claiming themselves a voice in politics. They were known as the suffragists. It took those women a lot of efforts and some decades to seek for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. In her essay “The Next Generation of Suffragists: Harriot Stanton Blatch and Grassroots Politics,” Ellen Carol Dubois notes some hardships American suffragists faced in order to achieve the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Along with that essay, the film Iron-Jawed Angels somehow helps to paint a vivid image of the obstacles in the fight for women’s suffrage. In the essay “Gender at Work: The Sexual Division of Labor during World War II,” Ruth Milkman highlights the segregation between men and women at works during wartime some decades after the success of women suffrage movement. Similarly, women in the Glamour Girls of 1943 were segregated by men that they could only do the jobs temporarily and would not able to go back to work once the war over. In other words, many American women did help to claim themselves a voice by voting and giving hands in World War II but they were not fully great enough to change the public eyes about women.
Women, like black slaves, were treated unequally from the male before the nineteenth century. The role of the women played the part of their description, physically and emotionally weak, which during this time period all women did was took care of their household and husband, and followed their orders. Women were classified as the “weaker sex” or below the standards of men in the early part of the century. Soon after the decades unfolded, women gradually surfaced to breathe the air of freedom and self determination, when they were given specific freedoms such as the opportunity for an education, their voting rights, ownership of property, and being employed.
...en comparing the President Wilson to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to demand that President reverse his opposition to 19th amendment. Besides the comparison, CU also set aflame a life-size dummy of Wilson, burned copies of Wilson’s speeches, and went on hunger strikes when got sent to prison. Newspapers printed stories about the women’s treatment in jail, garnering public sympathy and support for the cause. By 1918, President Wilson publicly announced his support for suffrage. Thus, victory for women suffrage happened in 1920.
While the women’s suffrage movement was none violent and mainly carried out by organized meetings, lobbying congressman, and picketing protests, the women that participated in it could do nothing to stop the violence of their oppressors from coming to them. In January 1917, the National Women’s Party, led by suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, began to picket, six days a week, in front of the white house for their right to vote. At first largely ignored, they became under frequent attack with no help from the police. Then starting th...
It was Theodore Roosevelt, who stated that, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care”, conveying the idea that with no voice comes no change. In the morning of August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, which centralized mainly on the enfranchisement of women. Today, they have the legal right to vote, and the ability to speak openly for themselves, but most of all they are now free and equal citizens. However this victorious triumph in American history would not have been achieved without the strong voices of determined women, risking their lives to show the world how much they truly cared. Women suffragists in the 19th century had a strong passion to change their lifestyle, their jobs around the nineteenth century were limited to just children, family, and domestic duties. It consisted of a very low rate of education, and job opportunities. They could not share their opinion publicly and were expected to support their male family members and husbands during the time. Women knew that the way to enfranchisement was going to be tenacious, and full of obstacles along the way. Therefore a new organization was formed, The National American Women Association (NAWSA), representing millions of women and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as the first party president. This organization was founded in 1890, which strategized on the women getting education in order to strengthen their knowledge to prepare for the suffrage fight. NAWSA mainly focused on the right to vote one state at a time. In 1917, a member named Alice Paul, split apart from NAWSA because of the organization’s tactics and major goals. Due to this split, many other suffragists from NAWSA bitterly divided into a new organization named, National Women’s ...
But how did this all start to happen? It didn’t happen overnight, and it wasn’t a one-person battle. Women wanted the same rights as men already had. But they didn’t just stop there, women played a major role in the rise of the child labor laws, stood up for minorities, and they wanted prostitution to end. Most people who opposed woman suffrage believed that women were less intelligent and less able to make political decisions than men were. Opponents argued th...
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause, many did not agree with these women’s radical views. These conservative thinkers caused a great road-block on the way to enfranchisement. Most of them were men, who were set in their thoughts about women’s roles, who couldn’t understand why a woman would deserve to vote, let alone want to vote. But there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote. Because some women were indifferent in regards to suffrage, they set back those who were working towards the greater good of the nation. However, the suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by altering their tactics, while still maintaining their objective.
Without a doubt, Lucy Burns played a key role in women's suffrage. During a time when women did not have the right to vote and when Woodrow Wilson sent the country into WWI, Lucy Burns, a women's rights activist, protested toward the treatment of women by picketing the White House, participating in parade confrontations, and giving speeches. After seven years of protesting, Lucy Burns and the National American Woman Suffrage Association convinced Woodrow Wilson to propose an amendment to the constitution which grants citizens, regardless of gender, the right to vote. Truly, Lucy Burns changed political power for the better.
Women were getting tired of not having the same rights as men, so they wanted to make a move to change this. Women got so tired of staying at home while the men worked. Women wanted to get an education. So they fought for their freedom. Abigail Adams said to her husband, “in the new code of laws, remember the ladies and do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.” John’s reply was, “I cannot but laugh. Depend upon it, we know better than to repeal our masculine systems.” These were said in 1776. The women’s suffrage actually began in 1848, which was the first women’s rights convention which was held in Seneca Falls, New York. Prominent leaders began campaigning for the right to vote at State and federal levels. Susan B. Anthony was the leader for getting women their rights in the United States. Susan B. Anthony voted in Rochester, NY for the presidential election. This occurred in 1872. She was, “arrested, tried, convicted, and fined $100.” She refused to pay the fine. Supporters of The Equal Rights Amendment would march, rally, petition, and go on hunger strikes.
The film shows Paul and her cohorts fighting for equality in Washington, DC. When Paul first arrived in DC, she was under the watchful eye of the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). As Paul fought on, her values no longer lined up with NAWSA, which led to the suspension of her congressional union. In retaliation, Paul relentlessly continued her efforts by starting the National Women’s Party (NWP). The National Women’s Party solely fought for the passage of a constitutional amendment that would grant all United Stated citizens the right to vote. Although the opposing sides often came to a head, Alice Paul makes a great case when she says, “women don’t make the laws, but they have to abide by them”(von Garnier, 2004, part 2). With much determination and a lot of fight, the amendment was finally passed through Congress in