The Continued Voice of the Silent Sentinels
By Maura Reilly
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Although many mark the official start of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States with the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first woman’s rights convention in the country. It wasn’t until 1913, 65 years after the convention, when women began mass protests calling for the right to vote and equality under the law.
In 1913, the National Women’s Party led by suffragist Alice Paul organized the 1913 Suffrage Parade in Washington, DC. The march which took place a day before the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson and was attended by more than 5,000 women including well-known suffragists like Ida B. Wells, was the first civil rights demonstration to take place in the Nation’s capital.
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Four years later in January 1917, Alice Paul and the National Women’s Party continued what would be called their “militant” tactics to gain support for women’s suffrage, with a year long picket of the White House. After a meeting with representatives from the Party, President Wilson dismissed their appeal for women’s suffrage; as a result Paul and 1,000 suffragists took turns picketing the White House entrance on Pennsylvania Avenue. The protestors called themselves the Silent Sentinels, and true to their name they stood silently holding banners calling on Wilson to support women’s right to vote. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, the Washington Herald described the picket as “the most militant move ever made by the suffragists in this country.” Others would go on to describe the Sentinels as women with “bad manners and mad banners.”
By Summer of 1917, public sentiment against the suffragist protestors resulted in physical attacks against them. As a response the police demanded the picketers end their protests or face arrest for “obstruction of traffic.” The Silent Sentinels remained and those arrested often declined paying bail and instead served out their sentences in the Occoquan Workhouse. While imprisoned, many went on hunger strikes and faced abuse from the guards. By November public sentiment had turned around in favor of the suffragists and by January 1918, President Wilson publicly announced his support for expanding suffrage to women. By the end of the year-long picketing, more than 218 women from 26 states had been arrested in the name of women’s equality.
Women protesting would not end with the Silent Sentinels, or the 19th Amendment. Throughout our history, women have often turned to express their First Amendment Right to peaceably assemble and call for their equality. Dorothy Height often referred to as the “Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement” was a key figure in organizing the 1963 March on Washington. Although no women spoke at the March nor were they included in the subsequent meeting with President Kennedy, Height was an essential element to one of the most famous civil rights demonstrations in US history. The 1965 grape workers strike in California and well known slogan “Sí, se puede” although often accredited to Cesar Chavez, was actually spearheaded by Dolores Huerta who co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with Chavez. The famed phrase would later become a rallying cry during President Obama’s 2008 campaign as “Yes, we can,” when presenting Huerta with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 President Obama acknowledged Huerta as the source and inspiration.
Groups forced to protest in order to protect their rights or call for equality are often derided much like the Silent Sentinels as militant and radical. To an extent these criticisms are correct, if we consider demanding true equality radical and peaceably gathering militant. Women have long been at the forefront of demands for equality and have a long history of organizing, planning and protesting for equality and despite having the right to vote for 100 years, there remains work to do.
If you are interested in women’s equality join the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of women’s right to vote which will be hosted by CREW on July 23rd-25th and will feature speakers, spoken word and amazing visual experiences! Visit Crewomen.com and purchase your tickets for the virtual festival for women’s equality TODAY!
Maura is a RepresentWomen Research Fellow from the Washington, D.C. area. She graduated from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2019 with an honors degree in Social Anthropology. Follow Maura on Twitter, @further_maura.
