Women's Suffrage
Over the past few years, I've been increasingly discouraged by the apathy directed toward our election process. I've heard many statements like "What does my vote matter," or "I don't have time".
Recently, I completed an extensive documentation dossier for a historical marker that my DAR chapter is placing near the site of the Occoquan Workhouse. (I've added some informational links below, in case you don't know about the significance of the Workhouse and the "Night of Terror".) While I was reading first-hand accounts, books about the period, and watching the incredible movie Iron Jawed Angels, I gained a new respect for our democratic process. Most importantly, my new argument to those who remain apathetic points to the struggle these women went through to provide the right to vote. Even if you don't care for the politics, appreciate that we, as citizens, can participate in the process.
I found myself even wondering if I could do what these women did...
The Workhouse's wooden structure is long gone, but the former Lorton prison has been reclaimed as an Art Center. An area has been designated for a Women's Suffrage museum, and that's where our marker will be placed. A temporary museum exists today, in a building across the lawn from the future site.
Informational links:
http://www.sewallbelmont.org/ : "The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum is the headquarters of the historic National Woman's Party and was the Washington home of its founder and Equal Rights Amendment author Alice Paul."
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrage1900/a/suffrage_brutal.htm : References the email often circulated around Election Day. "The point of the email: it took a lot of sacrifice to win the vote for women, and so women today should honor their sacrifice by taking our right to vote seriously, and actually getting to the polls."
http://www.lortonarts.org/the_workhouse.htm : The History of the Lorton complex and its current transformation.
http://www.hbo.com/films/ironjawedangels/ : The HBO site for Iron Jawed Angels. The movie "recounts for a contemporary audience a key chapter in U.S. history: in this case, the struggle of suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. Focusing on the two defiant women, Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor), the film shows how these activists broke from the mainstream women's-rights movement and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries of political protest to secure women's voting rights in 1920."
Recently, I completed an extensive documentation dossier for a historical marker that my DAR chapter is placing near the site of the Occoquan Workhouse. (I've added some informational links below, in case you don't know about the significance of the Workhouse and the "Night of Terror".) While I was reading first-hand accounts, books about the period, and watching the incredible movie Iron Jawed Angels, I gained a new respect for our democratic process. Most importantly, my new argument to those who remain apathetic points to the struggle these women went through to provide the right to vote. Even if you don't care for the politics, appreciate that we, as citizens, can participate in the process.
I found myself even wondering if I could do what these women did...
The Workhouse's wooden structure is long gone, but the former Lorton prison has been reclaimed as an Art Center. An area has been designated for a Women's Suffrage museum, and that's where our marker will be placed. A temporary museum exists today, in a building across the lawn from the future site.
Informational links:
http://www.sewallbelmont.org/ : "The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum is the headquarters of the historic National Woman's Party and was the Washington home of its founder and Equal Rights Amendment author Alice Paul."
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrage1900/a/suffrage_brutal.htm : References the email often circulated around Election Day. "The point of the email: it took a lot of sacrifice to win the vote for women, and so women today should honor their sacrifice by taking our right to vote seriously, and actually getting to the polls."
http://www.lortonarts.org/the_workhouse.htm : The History of the Lorton complex and its current transformation.
http://www.hbo.com/films/ironjawedangels/ : The HBO site for Iron Jawed Angels. The movie "recounts for a contemporary audience a key chapter in U.S. history: in this case, the struggle of suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. Focusing on the two defiant women, Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor), the film shows how these activists broke from the mainstream women's-rights movement and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries of political protest to secure women's voting rights in 1920."
posted by Holly Lynne at 10:34 AM
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