Teaching Suffrage: Suffrage Prisoners Banner

Suffragist Mary Winsor holding a banner in 1917. The banner reads "To Ask Freedom for Women is Not a Crime. Suffrage Prisoners Should Not Be Treated As Criminals."

Harris and Ewing, photographers. National Woman's Party collection, The Library of Congress

Created in collaboration with the Hard History Project

Grade Level

This activity is designed for fifth grade (ages 10-11)

Objectives

Students will:

• Express empathy when people are excluded or mistreated.
• Recognize thir own responsibility to stand up to exclusion and prejudice.
• Speak up with courage and respect when they or someone else has been hurt or wronged.
• Make principled decisions about when and how to take a stand in their everyday lives and will do so despite negative peer or group pressure.

Guiding Question

Have you ever spoken out when you saw someone mistreated?

National Woman's Party banner protesting the imprisonment of suffragists

"To Ask Freedom for Women is Not a Crime. Suffrage Prisoners Should Not be Treated as Criminals"

Beginning in January 1917, the National Woman's Party organized a daily protest at the White House. The protesters, known as "Silent Sentinels" stood outside the gates of the president's house holding banners asking Woodrow Wilson to support an amendment to the Constitution that would prohibit states from denying women the right to vote. After the United States entered World War I, many people were angry that the suffragists continued the protest. The picketers were accused of being unpatriotic because they were criticizing the president during wartime. Police ordered the women to stop picketing. When the women refused, they were arrested and sent to jail. Over 150 women served time in prison for the protest.

Mary Winsor was one of the suffragists who was arrested. She served a 60 day sentence in the Occoquan Workhouse prison for picketing. She also served 10 days for being present at another protest in Lafayette Square, near the White House. While in prison, many women were kept from speaking with their families and lawyers, fed rotten food, and even beaten.The suffragists spoke out about how they were treated. In this photo, Mary Winsor holds a sign arguing that the women should not be arrested for exercising their First Amendment right to protest.

Vocabulary

amendment: a change, especially to a document like the Constitution
picket: standing outside of a location to protest or try to convince others to support a cause
sentinel: a guard whose job is to stand and keep watch
suffrage: the right to vote
suffragist: a person who works for the right to vote, especially for women

Think About It

• Why do you think the suffragists were arrested?

• How does the message on Mary Winsor's banner make you feel?

• When have you been treated unfairly? How did you respond?

Additional Resources

NPS Links

Article Series: The Suffrage "Prison Special" Tour
National Woman's Party Protests During World War I
Alice Paul's Crusade
Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson, and the Battles for Liberty

Other resources
Bold and Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote by Kirsten Gillibrand. Illustrated by Maira Kalman
She Resisted: Strategies of Suffrage Interactive from PBS's "The Vote"