What Every American Child Should Know About The Women's Suffrage Movement That's Not In Textbooks

In history class, most students see the pictures of the women in long white dresses peacefully picketing the White House seeking the right to vote. What they don't see is the ugly truth about what happened to these women and their resourcefulness in turning adversity into victory. This is shown with reasonable accuracy in the movie, Iron Jawed Angels. A proper Learning Guide to the film should show teachers how to turn the movie into an inspiring and informative classroom experience; one that students will long remember.

Textbooks

In 1917, the National Women's Party -NWP- led by Alice Paul picketed the White House demanding that women be given the vote. After the First World War began, the "Silent Sentinels" were assaulted by violent crowds and were arrested on false pretenses, such as blocking the sidewalk. Most Americans and the federal government felt that in time of war, the country should be unified. Alice Paul and the NWP pointed out that women hadn't been given a chance to vote for or against the war and that therefore they had no obligation to support it.

After grossly unfair trials, the picketers were imprisoned under harsh conditions and subjected to treatment that would be considered torture today. When the public learned about the mistreatment of the suffragists, it was outraged by the government's actions. Despite being arrested and treated brutally in prison, Alice Paul and other militants refused to give in and kept putting pressure on President Wilson to support the suffrage amendment.

Iron Jawed Angels can be an effective tool in showing students rarely taught historical events and facts, such as:

1) Alice Paul and the suffrage movement's militant wing held nonviolent protests demanding the right to vote; they were assaulted by crowds of men and denied police protection;

2) The militants' nonviolent protests were suppressed by the government through false arrests, unfair trials, imprisonment in harsh conditions, and what can accurately be described as torture;

3) While strictly adhering to peaceful demonstrations, the suffragists withstood the violence, imprisonment and torture; refusing to back down, the suffragists continued their protests;

4) The 19th amendment passed primarily due to the efforts of the National American Women's Suffrage Association -NAWSA- and its leader, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt; another important factor was the public outcry at the way the "Silent Sentinels" were treated, as well as respect for the strength of the suffragists' commitment; and

5) At about the same time that Mahatma Gandhi pioneered nonviolent methods of promoting political and social change, the NWP and Alice Paul independently developed similar tactics in the United States.

Iron Jawed Angels will inspire students to study the movement for women's equality, one of the five great advances in human rights in the U.S. since the beginning of the 20th century. The other four were the movement for equal treatment for black Americans and other minorities, the procedural protections given to persons accused of crimes (achieved primarily through court decisions), granting access and other rights to the disabled (achieved through legislation), and the extension of equal rights to homosexuals, including the right to raise children and to marry. While all these advances are works in process, and the last has been only partially realized, these change in the U.S. have improved the lives of millions of Americans.

What Every American Child Should Know About The Women's Suffrage Movement That's Not In Textbooks

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