History of Feminism

Trying a new tactic, Paul and other women became the first to picket the White House. Starting in January 1917, they spent eighteen months picketing. Over 1,000 “Silent Sentinels” slowly marched, day and night, in front of the White House gates, displaying suffrage banners with messages such as, “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?" They endured the verbal and physical attacks of spectators which only increased after the United States entered World War I and the women’s signs became more accusatory, asking President Wilson how he could send American men to die in a war for democracy when he denied women the right to vote at home. Instead of protecting the women, the police began arresting them for obstructing traffic. As the women continued picketing, their jail sentences grew longer Paul was sentence to jail for seven months. In jail, she organized a hunger strike to protest their incarceration. Doctors threatened to send Paul to an insane asylum, but she continued to refuse to eat and so they force fed her. 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. It took two more years for the Senate, House, and the required 36 states to approve the amendment.