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SUFFRAGE
MOVEMENT AND NATIONAL WOMAN'S PARTY
During
the early 1900's, various groups of parties, organizations, and
societies aroused to fight particularly for the right of a woman
to vote. Among such was the National Woman's Party (NWP). Originally
form in 1913 by Alice Paul and other women with the same point
of view she possessed as Congressional Union later became NWP
in 1917,(Feminist Politics in the 1920S: The National Woman's
Party).
It was
made up of only 50000 members, nothing compared to the 2 million
members from the NAWSA (national woman's party). Alice Paul and
other members on the NWP broke away from NAWSA, due to some issues
and the ways NAWSA was handling the suffrage movement. Unlike
many other suffrage parties and organizations whose targets and
focus was on the individual state legislature to pass an amendment
state by state, NWP target was on a congressional amendment to
the constitution. Their core enemy or focus was the President
himself, Woodrow Wilson. They believe that with the support of
the most powerful in the world, that's the president of United
State, the path to their goals will be much smoother and faster.
Alice
Paul and her supporters believed that women needed to be more
militant in their demands for equal rights, (national woman's
party). The NWP also allowed African American women and men willing
to volunteer to partially participate in the movement. But the
African American women were not allowed in making decisions or
talking during the meeting.
Most of
their tactics originated from the British suffrage campaign, a
campaign that Alice Paul herself took part in before coming to
the states to campaign. They also used the old fashioned lobbying
and petitioning, civil disobedience, and never before picketing
of the White House. Their tactic for getting at the president
was parade, demonstration, and picketing of the white house, an
act of demonstration never before done by any past protesters
and demonstrators.
Upon their
appointing Alice Paul and Lucy Burn as the National American Woman
Suffrage Association's Congressional Committee, their first action
was to organize a large and emphasized suffrage parade in Washington
D.C. on March 3, 1913, the eve of President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration.
The parade was led by Inez Milholland Boissevain. The theme of
the parade was "The Allegory", which was carried out or
portrayed by a feminist pageant designed by a famous pageant designer
Hazel Mackaye. She was responsible for all the pageants used in
the movement. She believed pageant was the best way of passing
out a message. Pageant was an historical and attractive art with
messages within. The purpose of the pageant on that parade was
to attract attention and new members. Afterwards, the women gathered
at Lafeyeffe park and burnt pictures and speeches written by Wilson,
while a group of about seven to thirteen women took their place
in front of the White House, with the "watch fire of freedom"
burning and banners consisting of messages such as "the time has
come to conquer or submit for there is but one choice" (picketing),
"Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait For Liberty" (women of
protest); reminding Wilson of his pledge to support amendment.
Apart of the harsh weather, the women also suffer mob attack during
the World War I, the mob felt the President should be left alone
to focus on the war rather than worry about some voting amendments
for women.
The women
were arrested and charged with violation of traffic laws and were
all sentenced to six months in prison. With the white house out
of reach, in the fall of 1917, the women while in prison, led
by Alice Paul decided to confront the issue with another tactic,
civil disobedience. They refused to do their assigned sweatshop
sewing and manual labor. Then they all went on hunger strike which
resulted in forced feeding by the authority. Tubes were forced
through their nose instead of their mouth, a brutal and torturous
act. This treatment led to injury and bleeding. They were also
threatened to be sent to an institution for insanity. The authority
also tried talking them out of it, but failed. These actions brought
more political and national attention to the movement. It showed
the women's strong devotion to the party and movement. Afraid
that their death in prison due to lack of feeding and harsh treatments
could aggravate more resolution against the government and also
because of public outcry, the local government offered pardon
for their sentencing on November 1917.
Once again,
upon their release, the women took their place in front of the
White House, with their banners and continued the picketing. More
members were arrested and they too used the tactic of civil disobedience,
later in 1918. A prison tour came afterward, with all former inmates
going around the country telling the story of their experience
in jail. This tour brought more massive support for the movement.
But Wilson refusal to support the amendment was due to the fact
that he didn't want to offend his party. But with constant pressure,
he declared that the issue of women voting should be handled locally.
With the president on their side, the NWP proceeded to the lower
ranks like senators, the congress, and candidates running for
a congressional office. Representatives from NWP were lobbying
at the congress, trying to persuade any senator on site to support
the passage of the amendment. They also visited senators in their
offices to persuased them individually. They also used petitioning-the
gathering of signatures in support of resolutions and the formal
presentation of these documents to political representatives-in
order to demonstration graphically the will of the people, (Tactics
and Techniques of the National Woman's Party Suffrage Campaign).
They presented this petitions to the congress during their meetings.
They also attended some congressional session uninvited carrying
banners with the messages concerning the amendment, to remind
congress of the issue.
As the
campaign progresses, NWP lobbying of the congress was shifted
to the state level. They also tried persuading state legislature
into supporting the amendment. They also targeted local candidates
running for office in the congress. Persuading their (candidates)
voters to demand equal rights for all citizens, by using male
members from the NWP, since women couldn't vote. In states where
the votes were very close, lobbying by NWP representative was
crucial in convincing the conflicted or undefined to support the
amendment (Tactics and Techniques of the National Woman's Party
Suffrage Campaign).
With
so much support behind them, the proposal for the amendment was
passed to individual states for ratification. On August 26
the nineteenth amendment granting women the right to vote was
signed by secretary of state Bainbridge Colby. The amendment states
as follows; "[The right of citizens shall not be denied because
of sex]. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State
on account of sex. [Congress given power to enforce this article].
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation."(George Anastaplo, 1995:191).
The passage
of the amendment though didn't not apply to African American
women in the southern part of the country, even those that
have participated in the movement. Most suffrage leaders in the
south refused to support African American women suffrage. They
(southern white women) supported the "educated suffrage" which
basically prohibited African Americans in general from voting.
In the "educated suffrage" system, every African American voter
was test on some history questions, but regardless of how good
any of them did, they all fail. This issue was presented to the
NWP through a minority resolution that persuaded the NWP to pressure
the congress to investigate violation of the amendment, but the
NWP turned it down. It feared to loss its support from southern
representative. Many letters were written to the NWP from various
African American women, complaining about they were denied from
registering or even voting. But there was nothing NWP could do.
The leader of the party Alice Paul stated that "disenfranchisement
of black women was solely a race issue not women's" (How Did the
National Woman's Party Address the Issue of the Enfranchisement
of Black Women). But whether that was a true statement or just
a way of avoiding the issue so as not to offend the southern members
of the party, it's still a conflict. But nothing was really done
to help African American women exercise their voting right.
But the
party instead proposes the equal right amendment for women in
general. It publicly proposed the amendment at a major conference
held in Seneca Falls on July 21, 1923, on the 75th anniversary
of the original feminist Declaration of Principles (Social Revolution
and the Equal Rights Amendment). The proposal dealt with the ways
women were treated socially, at work, at their homes, and as property.
Also included in the proposal were the rights for women to make
contract, own a land, fight for custody of children and file for
divorce, own a bank account. They used pretty much the same tactics
from the suffrage movement to approach this issue. But as the
1920s progresses, the NWP began to fade away due to the great
depression that swept the country and the opposition of the proposal
by many women organization themselves, who felt it was just crossing
the line asking for another amendment. But the leader of NWP,
Alice Paul, who had made ERA her life, continued with the proposal.
The opposers in the congress argued that the wordings were not
right in the sense that it favored mostly women. Changes were
made to the wordings in the proposal, reviewed and approved by
the Supreme Court.
After
long, bittering debates for nearly two years; it was passed into
law in 1972. The equal right amendment originally stated; "Men
and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States
and every place subject to its jurisdiction."(Social Revolution
and the Equal Rights Amendment). Later in the years, NWP members
started to withdraw due to old age and death. Some redrew right
after the voting amendment, some after the ERA passage, while
some died while still servicing as a member. But the greatest
member of all though was Alice Paul. She was the one who upheld
NWP. She was the heart of the party. Her leadership through strong
unbreakable determination helped lead the party to victory. She
gave it hope whenever there was none, her spirit of devotion and
dedication was what increased the life span of NWP, to achieve
more than it had planned to achieve. Though not heard of very
much, it was the trouble, struggle and achievements of NWP that
women of today are enjoying; struggles and achievements that open
another chapter in history. Though not the biggest, most popular,
and richest suffrage movement party, its accomplishments and achievements
were the greatest of all. The National Woman's Party; a party
not to be forgotten.
For more
information: Call: (602) 301-0056 Email:
info@gendertraining.com
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