Photograph: Suffrage Procession, 1917
name: label: associated institution
content: National Woman's Party
notes: label: Description
content: This photograph shows picketers marching from the National Women’s Party headquarters to their posts in front of the White House.
label: Description
content: In January 1917, members of the National Woman's Party (NWP) became the first people to picket the White House. This photograph shows picketers marching from the National Women’s Party headquarters to their posts in front of the White House. Protesting the government's failure to pass a constitutional amendment enfranchising women, NWP members, led by Alice Paul, began picketing the White House. Their purple, white, and gold banners asked President Woodrow Wilson, "Mr. President what will you do for woman suffrage?" and "Mr. President how long must women wait for liberty?" Tolerated at first, the "silent sentinels" were increasingly seen as an embarrassment to the administration. As the United States entered the First World War, the NWP pickets' banners often pointed out the hypocrisy of fighting for democracy and freedom in Europe while denying it to women at home. In June 1917, the D.C. police began arresting picketers for obstructing sidewalk traffic. 90 women were sentenced to terms ranging from 60 days to six months in the Occoquan Workhouse. When their demands to be treated as political prisoners were ignored, they went on hunger strikes and were forcibly fed. The publicity surrounding their ordeal generated public sympathy for the suffragists and their cause.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: general subject association
content: Women's Suffrage
label: general subject association
content: Equal Rights Amendment
label: general subject association
content: Voting Rights
label: general subject association
content: Demonstrations
label: general subject association
content: Women's History
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, Women's History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Woman Suffrage
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Alice Paul Centennial Foundation, Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.3016.065
label: catalog number
content: 1991.3016.065
label: nonaccession number
content: 1991.3016
objectType: label: Object Name
content: photograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 5 in x 7 in; 12.7 cm x 17.78 cm