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Written by Sandy Iverson   

What really happened to American women suffragettes on the "Night of Terror," November 15, 1917?


Lucy Burns

Every November the scarlet red of the poppy appears on our jacket lapels to remind us to remember. This year, I have been thinking a lot about what we are remembering. There are many things we could remember. We could remember:

--that when Germany wanted more power and land in Europe, people from some of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world rose up to stop them, and many people died.

--that when England (and other nations) wanted more power and land in Ireland, Africa, Asia, and elsewhere, no one rose up to stop them, and many people died.

--that when Hitler set out on a genocidal rampage, people were horrified and worked to stop him; some even went to war, and many people died.

--that when genocide happened in Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzogovina, East Timor and the Sudan (to name only a very few) western wealthy nations did not send people to fight to stop it, and did not send massive aid to help what was left of the countries to rebuild, and many people died.

--that the European infiltration of all of the Americas resulted in the genocide of indigenous people, and many of them died and continue to die.

Here is another story that you might like to remember this particular week.

On November 15, 1917, the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia, U.S.A. ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there, because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

The night of the 15th of November, became known as the "Night of Terror" to the women of the National Women's Party (NWP). The warden of the workhouse, well known for his brutal tactics, directed over 40 club-wielding prison guards on a rampage against 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

They beat Lucy Burns, a leader of the NWP, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night. Dorothy Day, a frail young woman, had two men twist her arms above her head, lift her into the air and then "bang her down over the arm of an iron bench - twice" (Stevens, p. 197). Numerous accounts, written by the jailed women, reported beatings, being slammed against concrete walls, hurled onto the floors of cold cells and left four to a cell with one single bed. Guards increased the terror by continually screaming, banging their clubs against the iron bars and hurling threats and curses at the abused women.

For weeks, these women were subjected to mistreatment. Their water came from an open pail, their bathroom facilities were open to the eyes of their male jailers, and their food was moldy, inedible and infested with worms. When a number of the women, including the leader and chief strategist of the NWP, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they were subjected three times a day to being strapped down, having a tube forced down their throat, and liquid poured into them until they vomited. Many were tortured in this way for weeks, until finally their lawyers were granted access to the prison and word reached the press of the inhumane treatment they suffered.

In November of 1917, men were dying in Europe to 'preserve democracy' and women were being tortured in Virginia jails because they were holding banners in the streets of Washington asking for the same principle at home, that men were dying for abroad.

Lest we forget.

You might also like to remember that 2009 was the 80th anniversary of 'The Person's Case' in Canada. Prior to October 18, 1929 women in Canada were not recognized as 'persons.'

Notes:

Stevens, D. (2003). Jailed for Freedom. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved November 15, 2009, from World Wide Web: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3604

Other resources:

Lavender, W. (2003) Suffragists Storm Over Washington D.C. In 1917. American History Magazine. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from World Wide Web: http://www.historynet.com/suffragists-storm-over-washington-dc-in-1917.htm

Tactics and Techniques of the National Women's Party Suffrage Campaign. The Library of Congress: American Memory Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from World Wide Web: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/tactics.html
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Sandy Iverson
About the author:
Sandy Iverson is a Toronto based researcher, writer, and trainer. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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    As the old wisdom states: in order to understand the future, you need to understand the past. How true is that? The past entices learning, reminds us of what to do and what not to do, teaches us valuable lessons, and shows us from where we have come and how far. Women suffragists have blazed trails for our future, herbal women have taught us how to heal and nurture ourselves, our travels have taught us to value what we have or to reach for a better future, and our innermost desires poke to the surface reminding us to act, that there is more we want to do. Of course, we need to look toward the future, but the wisdom of the past must always be our companion.

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