Silent for Suffrage - Lorton, Virginia
Posted by: 
flyingmoose
N 38° 40.918 W 077° 15.160
18S E 304055 N 4283893
Located within the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial.
Waymark Code: WM154FB
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 10/14/2021
Views: 3
Sign Text:
The fence you see in front of you once surrounded the White House grounds. Can you imagine standing silently besides these fencepost, drenched in rain, holding a heavy banner in your hand while looking directly at President Woodrow Wilson? For several months in 1917, protesters known as Silent Sentinels stood beside this fence and demanded President Wilson support a constitutional amendment enfranchising women. After the U.S. entered World War I, public opinion turned against the picketers, and the women were attacked by crowds. Law enforcement arrested the picketers for "obstructing traffic" and sent many of them to the Occoquan Workhouse in Lorton, Virginia. The prisoners, including suffragist leaders Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, continued their protest through hunger strikes and endured brutal forced feedings. After stories of such harsh treatment filled the newspapers, the prisoners were released. Later denying that the protesters influenced him, President Wilson voiced his support for a federal suffrage amendment in 1918.
Group that erected the marker: National Park Service
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
9751 Ox Road
Lorton, Virginia United States of America
22079
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