Silent Sentinels and the Night of Terror

When schools teach about women’s suffrage and the struggle to allow women the right to vote in America, we get the neat package. We hear tales of letter-writing campaigns, of activists walking in the streets holding signs, and of women giving rousing speeches. We are told President Woodrow Wilson supported them, which he eventually did. We learn that some were arrested. What we never hear is the story of how they were treated.

The suffragists who were beaten and tortured during the “ Night of Terror “ is rarely told.

Their story begins on Jan. 9, 1917, when the Silent Sentinels, suffragists from the National Women’s Party, began protesting in front of the White House after meeting with President Woodrow Wilson. They picketed and silently protested at the White House until their demands were met two and a half years later.

Many women were arrested, but quickly released. As time went on, that began to change. The women began receiving long jail sentences for protesting.

On June 22, Lucy Burns and Katherine Morey were arrested for obstructing traffic. They had carried a banner citing the president’s speech to Congress. It read, “We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts-for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own…