Tomorrow – January 10 – in 1917, a band of bold suffragists, led by Alice Paul, launched a new tactic in the ceaseless fight for the vote – picketing the White House, (occupied by President Woodrow Wilson). At 10 a.m., twelve suffragists marched across Lafayette Square and took their position in front of the White House – six at the West gate and six at the East gate. At each gate, four women held high the purple,
white and gold banners of the National Woman’s Party. Between them stood two women, each one holding a large banner. One read: MR. PRESIDENT WHAT WILL YOU DO FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE? The other read: HOW LONG MUST WOMEN WAIT FOR LIBERTY? Every day, except Sunday, for a year and a half, more than a thousand women – young and old, rich and poor – peacefully picketed the White House. Suffragists stood in silence, holding their banners regardless of the weather – hot days, cold days, rain, sleet, snow, hail. In June the police started arresting the picketing suffragists. The poster with 89 names reads: “SUFFRAGISTS WHO WERE JAILED at either THE OCCOQUAN WORKHOUSE in LORTON, VA. or in WASHINGTON, DC in 1917. ” Even more suffragists would be arrested for picketing in 1918, the year of the “Night of Terror” and of the force feeding of hunger-striking suffragists.