ADD MY NAME!

"I live .... For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance And the good that I can do."   ~Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.

Heads or Tails?

"It is unthinkable that a national government which represents women should ignore the issue of the right of all women to political freedom."     ~Lucy Burns

Institutional Oppression-
The idea that one group is better than another group and has the right to control the
other gets embedded in the institutions of the society--the laws, the legal system and police
practice, the education system and schools, hiring policies, public policies, housing development, media images, political power, etc.

As we watch the next clip think about what freedom means to you. At what points do you say you are not free to do that? Have you ever experienced a situation in which you felt your freedom was being oppressed? What did you do?

To follow along with blog and discussion watch movie from 1:22:04-1:28:57.


Bearing witness is to show by your presence or by the way you act that something is true or right.

 
"We are not guilty of any crime. We are political prisoners. Now I want these women fed and given pen and paper to write to their families and we want our own clothes back! NOW!"

Five hundred suffragists were arrested for picketing and 168 were sentenced to terms in jail for the minor traffic offense of blocking the sidewalk. In court, the suffragists stood on their First Amendment "right of the people peacefully to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." They also denied the authority of the court.

"You're hurting me! You don't have a right!"

On the night of November 15, 1917, according to Barbara Leaming in Katharine Hepburn:

"Under orders from W.H. Whittaker, superintendent of the Occoquan Workhouse, as many as forty guards with clubs went on a rampage, brutalizing thirty-three jailed suffragists. They beat Lucy Burns, who served longer than any other protester, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head, and left her there for the night. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed, and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, who believed Mrs. Lewis to be dead, suffered a heart attack. According to affidavits, other women were grabbed, dragged, beaten, choked, slammed, pinched, twisted, and kicked."

Solidarity Forever!

"Where are the girls?"

Before the 19th Amendment was ratified in the U.S. in 1920,
women already had the right to vote in these countries:
New Zealand . . . . 1893
Australia. . . . . . . . 1902
Finland. . . . . . . . . .1906
Denmark . . . . . . . . 1915
Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . 1917
Russia . . . . . . . . . . . 1917
England . . . . . . . . . 1918
Ireland. . . . . . . . . . . 1918
Scotland . . . . . . . . 1918
Germany . . . . . . . . 1918
Hungary . . . . . . . . . 1918
Canada. . . . . . . . . .1918


"I had Mrs. Quinn take them to my mothers. To free you up. I know how busy you are with all your suffrage activities."

 From January 1917, the NWP found ways to present its case to the American people on an almost daily basis. The government was unable to stop the picketing of the White House. When thrown into jail, their story could have ceased to exist. The public could have forgotten about them. But the NWP found ways to keep the story in the national media. Women who had been imprisoned made speeches and the NWP organized the "Prison Special", a train in which formerly imprisoned suffragists toured the country.

Resist nonviolently to institutionalized injustice.

"He said I wasn't holding any cards. That I should know when to fold."

Nonviolent mass action forces change in three ways. It changes hearts and minds of the public and of the opponents of the protesters. Second, it hurts the pocketbook of those whose behavior it seeks to change. Third, it prevents those whose behavior it seeks to change from going about business as usual.

"He doesn't know about the ace up your sleeve."

Alice Paul was born in 1885 in Moorestown, New Jersey. She was raised as a Quaker, a Christian sect which is nonviolent, pacifist and active in movements for social reform. The Quakers follow the teachings of George Fox, an Englishman who, beginning in 1647, advocated the doctrine of "inner light" or "Christ within". Quakers believe that following the true path of Jesus means improving the lives of others. They are encouraged to select a "testimony", a life’s work with a goal of reform.
 
The failure of the central power holders to change either their minds or policies is a poor indicator of the movement’s progress.

"Mabel, add my name!"

Executive Producer Lydia Dean Pilcher wrote of the film:

There was a quote I read many years ago: ‘freedom is the sound of opinions clashing.’ And I think that’s something we’ve gotten very far away from in our country, that hopefully our film will help inspire that kind of lively debate, people stepping up and being passionate.

Do you have an hour to spare? Would you like to make a contribution? How about a pledge?

The avenue is misty gray

And here beside the guarded gate

We hold our golden blowing flags

And wait...


 Up next JAILED FOR FREEDOM and a closer look at power.

RESOURCES:
http://radyananda.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/iron-jawed-angels/
http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/iron-jawed-angels.html
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1678.html
http://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/How-Nonviolent-Struggle-Works.pdf