Women VOTE!

[Guest guest]

We also forget Wyoming was the first state to grant women the right to vote

Women VOTE!

A friend sent me this and she is right! We need to remember how our mothers and grandmothers fought for the right to vote, and then exercise that right!

This a strong message, and these women really should be remembered for being so brave.

Subject: Women VOTE!

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-Grandmothers - only 90 years ago!! Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote. The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.

Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' (Lucy Burns)They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. (Dora ) They hurled Dora into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow 's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. (Alice ) When one of the leaders, Alice , embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. So, refresh my memory. Some

women won't vote this year because - why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining? (Mrs. ine in the prison garb she wore while serving a sixty-day sentence.)Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic

depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. (Miss Edith Ainge, of town , New York )All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. ly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient. (Berthe Arnold, CSU graduate)My friend , who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become

valuable to her 'all over again. HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order. (Conferring over ratification [of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution] at [National

Woman's Party] headquarters, Pl [ace] [ Washington , D.C. ]. L-R Mrs. Lawrence , Mrs. Abby Baker, Anita Pollitzer, Alice , Florence Boeckel, Mabel Vernon (standing, right))It is jarring to watch Woodrow and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.' Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote. (Helena Hill Weed, Norwalk , Conn. Serving 3 day sentence in D.C. prison for carrying banner, 'Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.')History is being made. Vote!

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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:Nothing contributes more to peace of soul than having no opinion at all. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1742-1799)

True, but then ... where would we all be?

[Guest guest]

I don't forget - some of our " Poll Ladies " who are there rain, shine, or

raging blizzard, are old enough to have been casting some of those first

votes! You go, girls!

in WY

Practical Blackwork Designs

" You get a wonderful view from the point of no return... "

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Women VOTE!

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-Grandmothers - only 90

years ago!!

  Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to

the polls and vote.

  The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless

for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

  And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards

wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33

women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

(Lucy Burns)

They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and

left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

  (Dora )

  They hurled Dora into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron

bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought was

dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards

grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and

kicking the women.

  Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at

the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to

the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow

's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only

water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was

infested with worms.

  (Alice )

  When one of the leaders, Alice , embarked on a hunger strike, they tied

her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her

until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was

smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because - why,

exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't

matter? It's raining?

   (Mrs. ine in the prison garb she wore while serving a sixty-day

sentence.)

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron

Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so

that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am

ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

  (Miss Edith Ainge, of town , New York )

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the

actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. ly,

voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was

inconvenient.

  (Berthe Arnold, CSU graduate)

My friend , who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO

movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry.

She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that

movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't

use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger

women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said,

had become valuable to her 'all over again.

  HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history, social

studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum

I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I

realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in

the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in

order.

  (Conferring over ratification [of the 19th Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution] at [National Woman's Party] headquarters, Pl [ace] [

Washington , D.C. ]. L-R Mrs. Lawrence , Mrs. Abby Baker, Anita

Pollitzer, Alice , Florence Boeckel, Mabel Vernon (standing, right))

It is jarring to watch Woodrow and his cronies try to persuade a

psychiatrist to declare Alice insane so that she could be permanently

institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice

was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

  The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for

insanity.'

  Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We

need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by

these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or

independent party - remember to vote.

(Helena Hill Weed, Norwalk , Conn. Serving 3 day sentence in D.C. prison for

carrying banner, 'Governments derive their just powers from the consent of

the governed.')

History is being made. Vote!

------------------------------

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Nothing contributes more to peace of soul than having no opinion at all.

-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1742-1799)

True, but then ... where would we all be?