the history of lady voters: stream-of-consciousness research
extreme sacrifice
“title of this movie Iron Jawed Angels was an actual name given to the suffragettes by the media while they were imprisoned.”
“Iron Jawed Angels” undoubtedly refers to the women in prison suffering the mistreatment, but more specifically, it probably refers to those women, led of course by Alice Paul, who were being involuntarily force fed in response to their hunger strike, hence they had metaphorical “iron jaws” resisting the brutal procedure.
alice paul bio 
extremely well-educated for a woman of the times:
In 1901, she graduated first in her class from the Moorestown Friends School.[2] She later attended Swarthmore College (BA, 1905), the New York School of Philanthropy (social work), and the University of Pennsylvania (MA, sociology). In 1907, Paul moved to England where she attended the University of Birmingham and the London School of Economics (LSE). Returning to the U.S. in 1910, she attended the University of Pennsylvania, completing a PhD in political science in 1912. Her dissertation topic was: The Legal Position of Women in Pennsylvania. In 1927, she received an LLM followed by a Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1928, both from American University‘s Washington College of Law. [Wikipedia]
paul, as a quaker — the intersection of faith and politics (positive/negative)
feminism and the abortion controversy (Paul’s beliefs may have been point blank, but my guess is the societal and religious pressures are different, and, perhaps even more complicated than they once were.)
An article in pro-choice publication The Touchstone (2000) provides the following commentary on the relationship between the ERA and her views on abortion:
Alice Paul did oppose the linkage between the ERA and abortion, but that was because of her political astuteness rather than any disagreement with abortion. Paul felt that by linking the ERA with abortion, the ERA would not pass through Congress. Willis wrote, “She did not address issues of birth control, i.e., abortion, or even women’s sexuality, and was concerned that the radical women of the 1960s might alienate support by emphasizing these issues…[S]he said that even if women did want to do many things that she wished they would not do with their freedom, it was not her business to tell them what to do with it, but to see that they had it.”[19] This demonstrates that Alice Paul supported equal rights for women, including the right to choose abortion…[4]
This article however directly conflicts with a statement published by right-to-life activist Mary Meehan, from an interview with a colleague of Paul’s:
When I worked with Alice Paul [suffragist and leader of the National Woman's Party] I asked her about the abortion question – point blank. She said directly, “Abortion is just another way of exploiting women.” Then she went on to explain that the National Woman’s Party was organized for the benefit of women. Killing female babies was no way to benefit or protect women.
carrie chapman pratt:
She was introduced to Charles Darwin’s “Origin of the Species.” Already skeptical of traditional religion, yet retaining faith in human potential, Carrie embraced this philosophy – seeing evolutionary science as offering the idea of a constantly evolving and improving world, moving toward a free and peaceful society. Both of these events laid the groundwork for Carrie’s life work.
…
In 1893, they had a major victory when Colorado became the first state, by vote, to allow women suffrage. (Wyoming was the only other state granting women the vote, when admitted into the Union in 1890 as a full-adult suffrage state.) Carrie worked tirelessly on the Colorado victory, as she did all across the country. When she became too exhausted and ill to lecture or travel, she wrote articles from her bed.
…
In 1902, in a speech before NAWSA, she said:
“The world taught women nothing skillful and then said her work was valueless. It permitted her no opinions and said she did not know how to think. It forbade her to speak in public and said the sex had no orators. It denied her the schools, and said the sex had no genius. It robbed her of every vestige of responsibility, and then called her weak. It taught her that every pleasure must come as a favor from men and when, to gain it, she decked herself in paint and fine feathers, as she had been taught to do, it called her vain.
…
Idaho voted for women suffrage in 1896; Washington, 1910; California, 1911; three other Western states in 1912; and Illinois, the first victory east of the Mississippi, in 1913. But to reach their goal of a national amendment, they needed a victory in the most populous state in the union: New York. Carrie led the Empire State Campaign Committee with the slogan, “Victory in 1915.” To make sure everyone was aware of their cause, she established a school to train volunteers in organization, public speaking, parliamentary practice and suffrage history, and made sure workers were assigned to every voting precinct in the state. When they failed to gain victory in 1915, they rallied again with the slogan, “Victory in 1917,” and did win.
…
The war ended in 1918, with Carrie campaigning as vigorously as ever for the national amendment. Congress by now had seen the handwriting on the wall and had passed the federal amendment, but 36 states still needed to ratify it. By March, 1919, sensing victory, she established the League of Women Voters (LWV) at the NAWSA 50th Anniversary, “Jubilee Convention,” in St. Louis. It would be NAWSA’s successor and would help educate women to become informed voters. Carrie served as honorary president for the rest of her life. In the spring of 1920, 35 states had ratified the amendment. All suffrage effort concentrated on winning that 36th state. Finally, on August 26, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify it and the Nineteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution.
[Carrie Chapman Catt biography, courtesy of Women In History]
in-fighting of different suffragist movements
precedent for force-feeding
first females in jail?
courage in women is often mistaken for insanity
had this movement been attempted previously (racial movement?):
an amendment had originally been sought by suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1878. However, by the early 20th century, attempts to secure a federal amendment had ceased. The focus of the suffrage movement had turned to securing the vote on a state-by-state basis. [Wikipedia]
list of what countries got the female vote first
shut-down of personal liberties during wartime
the men who helped
actual speech by wilson when constitution amended
process of state legislatures ratifying first came down to Tennessee, as excerpted from Alice Paul’s biography, via Chatterbox Chronicles:
“In 1917, in response to public outcry about the prison abuse of suffragists, President Wilson reversed his position and announced his support for a suffrage amendment, calling it a “war measure.” In 1919, both the House and Senate passed the 19th Amendment and the battle for state ratification commenced. Three-fourths of the states were needed to ratify the amendment. The battle for ratification came down to the state of Tennessee in the summer of 1920; if a majority of the state legislature voted for the amendment, it would become law. The deciding vote was cast twenty-four year-old Harry Burn, the youngest member of the Tennessee assembly. Originally intending to vote “no,” Burn changed his vote after receiving a telegram from his mother asking him to support women’s suffrage. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment. Six days later, Secretary of State Colby certified the ratification, and, with the stroke of his pen, American women gained the right to vote after a seventy-two year battle. August 26th is now celebrated as Women’s Equality Day in the United States.”
percentage of female voters in first vote
excersising your vote as a right versus privilege
*i remember hearing very little about it in history? or at least not enough that it made an impact
significance of flag?
*inaccuracies in movie:
- Anachronisms: 50-star US flags throughout most of the first half of the movie.
- Anachronisms: There are numerous historical inaccuracies including women’s hair and men’s clothing styles, the presence of a small woman’s wrist watch and of a Crown Graphic press camera, both of which did not exist in 1918.
- Continuity: Although the final scene is said to take place in August, it’s clearly late autumn (Lucy and Alice wear coats and trees are obviously losing their leaves).
- Continuity: When Alice is learning how to drive, her mouth is repeatedly open/closed between shots.
- Anachronisms: When Alice Paul goes to meet Ben Weissmen at the restaurant, the front door has a modern door handle.
- Factual errors: When Pres. Wilson is giving the speech in Congress, the US flag is hung backwards. Whether the flag is vertical or horizontal, the stars should always be in the upper left.
- Factual errors: The first president to ride to his inauguration in a car was Warren G. Harding in 1921. So the scene with Wilson ridding the car is inaccurate
dissenting commenter: For the sake of creating tension in Alice Paul’s story the Angelica Houston character (Carrie Chapman Catt) is vilified and reduced from shades of gray to black and white, and President Woodrow Wilson (who is so responsible for so many good things in our lives today) is portrayed as a one-note cardboard character and anti-women. It’s true that the force-feeding of Alice Paul and her friends and their tactics got press and forced Wilson to act at that particular time, but the tide was progressing anyway — in large part due to the efforts of Carrie Chapman Catt (vilified here) and Susan B. Anthony and their contemporaries, long before Alice Paul came on the scene.
Carrie Chapman Catt and Woodrow Wilson were not the villains at all in reality, and yet here they’re portrayed as such. That’s absolutely criminal in my mind, and at the very least highly irresponsible.
