It's Women's History Month, a time to celebrate the achievements of women in all communities and across generations. Naturally, the League of Women Voters focuses on the suffragettes who fought for 72 years to secure women's right to vote, a right that wasn't achieved until 1920 with the addition of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

 

One often overlooked group of women are the "Silent Sentinels," who picketed daily for voting rights, initially in front of the White House and later in Lafayette Square. They began picketing in January 1917 and didn't stop until June 1919.

 

The women who participated in the pickets were frequently arrested. When the jails in Washington, D.C., could no longer hold them all, they were sent to Occoquan Prison in Virginia. Although their protest was peaceful, much violence was used against them, with the "Night of Terror" being the worst.

 

This incident occurred on November 15, 1917, at the Occoquan Asylum. With the approval of the prison director, guards attacked 33 women who were demanding to be treated as political prisoners. The following incidents were documented.

 

Lucy Burns was beaten and had her hands chained to her cell door above her head all night. Dora Lewis was thrown into a cell, where her head was smashed against an iron bed, rendering her unconscious. Alice Cosu, who believed Lewis was dead, suffered a heart attack. Mary Nolan, the oldest inmate at 73, was dragged down the stairs and also thrown into the cells. Other affidavits describe how guards grabbed, dragged, beat, strangled, whipped, pinched, twisted, and kicked the women.

 

The next day, half of the women began a hunger strike. Burns and two others were subjected to force-feeding through their noses. To prevent news of the incident and the internal conditions from leaking out, U.S. Marines from Quantico, Virginia, were hired to guard the prison.

 

Now, perhaps, you can understand the urgency of this quote from Susan B. Anthony: “Someone fought for your right to vote. Use it!” The right to vote for all citizens of the United States has been a long and hard-fought battle. Exercise it on August 18 and November 3!
 

Monica Elliott

League of Women Voters of Broward County.