Today in Herstory: DC Judge Unexpectedly Frees Arrested Suffragists

[niyad]

Today in Herstory: DC Judge Unexpectedly Frees Arrested Suffragists


Some of those who were arrested in day before yesterday’s picketing. Left to right, they are Catherine Martinette of Eagle Grove, Iowa; Elizabeth Kent of Kentfield, California; Mary Bartlett Dixon of Easton, Maryland; Mrs. C.T. Robertson of Salt Lake City, Utah; Cora Week of New York City; Amy Juengling of Buffalo, New York; Hattie Kruger, also of Buffalo, New York; Belle Sheinberg of New York City and Julia Emory of Baltimore, Maryland.



November 12, 1917: After all they’ve gone through, from extremes of weather to attacks by hostile crowds, arrests and lengthy jail sentences, it’s not easy to shock the suffragists who have been picketing President Wilson over his refusal to support or work for the Susan B. Anthony (nationwide woman suffrage) Amendment. But today they were truly caught by surprise.

Judge Mullowney of the D.C. Police Court did something absolutely no one expected. After all 41 of those arrested day before yesterday made their statements in his courtroom, they were given suspended sentences and permitted to go free. Whether this is a sign that the Government has decided to give up trying to persecute women for exercising their Constitutional right to peacefully protest, or is simply making it look as if leniency is being shown before extreme sentences are imposed if the protests continue is being debated tonight. But the uncertainly won’t last long, because 31 of the banner-bearing protesters went right back to the White House fence, were once again arrested, and will be back in court soon.

At their trials today, the defendants told the judge – and the many reporters present – why they protest, and that they do so in what they believe is a totally legal manner. According to Anna Kelton Wiley:
I want to state that we took this action with great consecration of spirit. We took this action with willingness to sacrifice our personal liberty, in order to focus the attention of the nation on the injustice of our disenfranchisement, that we might thereby win political liberty for all the women in this country. The Constitution says Congress shall not in any way abridge the right of citizens peacefully to assemble and petition. That is exactly what we did. We peacefully assembled, and then proceeded with our petition to the President for the redress of our grievance of disenfranchisement. The Constitution does not specify the form of petition. Ours was in the form of a banner. To say that we ‘broke traffic regulations’ when we exercised our constitutional right of petition is therefore unconstitutional.

Elizabeth Kent said:
My conscience is clear. I walked on Saturday afternoon from Cameron House to the further gate of the White House. I obstructed no traffic. I was moving. At the further gate there was no crowd. I held a banner which all might read. The Administration should commend, instead of allowing a prison sentence to be imposed upon, women who hold aloft words which show the utmost devotion to the ideals of political liberty on which the Government is founded.

. . . .

http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/11/12/today-in-herstory-dc-judge-unexpectedly-frees-arrested-suffragists/

[theHandpuppet]

1. Many thanks for posting all of these histories

It would seem that so many have forgotten just what our sisters endured and fought for those many years ago.

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it ..."

[niyad]

2. you are most welcome. it sickens me to think how much of our herstory is buried, ignored

or forgotten.

[justhanginon]

3. It was just a few years ago that I realized that women

did not have the right to vote until 1920. That was only 16 years before I was born, I was born in 1936. I don't know if it was never taught to me or I just did not remember or frankly just never had occasion to think about it but I was shocked. I guess I just thought that women had the right to vote for a long long time. That is a disgusting piece of our history.
Those women had to go through a hell of a lot to get that right and I have so just much admiration for them.
I guess, as a man, I am embarrassed at my lack of knowledge of something as important as the suffrage movement and will need to do some serious reading about it.
My awareness of so many of the women's issues has grown immensely since I joined DU and I thank you and all the women who post on this site for that enlightenment.

[niyad]

4. you are most welcome. I am pleased if even my small contributions help with a wider knowledge

and understanding.

if you want to truly see what the suffragists endured, watch "iron-jawed angels" (you can get it on dvd, most libraries have it, as well). be prepared, though. it is wrenching, to say the least. I would also recommend "shoulder to shoulder" which was a bbc production of the british suffrage movement (available on youtube, pbs never put it on dvd!)