The Story of the Woman's Party

In Short

This narrative detail-by-detail chronicles the militant, highly organized campaign led by the National Woman's Party from 1913 through the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Beginning with modest Washington headquarters and limited budgets, a tiny core of strategists constructs a national movement using brilliant publicity stunts, relentless lobbying, picketing at the White House, and enduring brutal imprisonments. The book endures as an essential primary document of nonviolent political agitation. It preserves the logistical mechanics, courtroom battles, and personal sacrifices that converted a long-ignored legislative measure into a constitutional reality, offering a blueprint for political organizing that remains strikingly relevant.

The Story

The account opens in 1913 as Alice Paul and Lucy Burns arrive in Washington, D.C., to revitalize the stalled push for a federal woman suffrage amendment. Establishing a modest base on F Street, they begin applying direct pressure on Congress and President Woodrow Wilson. Rather than pursuing state-by-state campaigns, they focus entirely on holding the party in power accountable for passing the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. To keep the cause in the headlines, they establish their own weekly publication, The Suffragist, and mount aggressive public demonstrations. When traditional congressional channels stall, notably within the unamenable House Rules Committee, the leaders establish the Congressional Union to organize deputations from every state and profession to demand that time be allotted for floor debate.

By 1915 and 1916, the movement expands its tactics to tap the political power of women in states where female suffrage already exists. Organizers travel across the West, hosting mass meetings, driving branded automobiles, and urging women voters to boycott Democratic candidates who oppose the amendment. In July 1916, at the Blackstone Theatre in Chicago, they formally launch the National Woman's Party. Their campaign speakers crisscross the country, addressing crowds in circus tents, county fairs, and factory shipyards, framing the fight as an urgent issue of basic human liberty.

When President Wilson begins his second term in 1917 amidst the backdrop of World War I, the National Woman's Party adopts a startling new tactic: peaceful picketing outside the White House. Braving bitter winds and slashing rain, hundreds of women line the gates carrying tall banners in purple, white, and gold. The political establishment responds with escalating hostility. Mob violence breaks out as bystanders tear down banners, and police begin arresting the pickets on thin charges of obstructing traffic.

Rather than backing down, the women refuse to pay fines and choose imprisonment instead. Sentenced to harsh facilities like the Occoquan Workhouse, they endure abysmal hygienic conditions, worm-infested food, physical assaults, and exposure to disease. Affidavits from prisoners like Ada Davenport Kendall reveal systematic mistreatment, yet the activists turn their trials into powerful publicity, returning to the picket lines immediately upon release.

As the political tension mounts, the activists escalate their protests by staging public watchfires, burning President Wilson's speeches on democracy, and even burning him in effigy outside the White House. Facing continuous court trials, police crackdowns, and nationwide attention, the movement's pressure eventually forces a political breakthrough. President Wilson capitulates, urging Congress to pass the amendment. The House surrenders, launching a grueling, state-by-state fight to secure thirty-six ratifications. Organizers deploy across the country, tracking down elusive legislators in remote towns, confronting national party leaders at hotel rallies, and holding politicians to precise vote tallies. The long campaign concludes in victory as state after state ratifies the amendment, permanently altering the American constitutional landscape.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Alice Paul and Lucy Burns set up Headquarters on F Street in Washington to force the federal suffrage amendment onto the national political agenda. They organize mass meetings, publish The Suffragist, and send repeated deputations to press the stubborn House Rules Committee for a hearing.

Mobilizing the Western voters Envoys travel across the West in decorated cars to organize enfranchised women against the ruling Democratic party. Organizers like Sara Bard Field draw huge crowds in cities like Chicago, while speakers like Rose Winslow address miners and railroad workers to build a broad populist base.

Forming the Woman's Party Activists gather at the Blackstone Theatre in Chicago to formally establish the National Woman's Party as a distinct political force. They deploy relentless billboard campaigns, drop leaflets from airplanes, and hold rallies in town squares to demand immediate congressional action.

The perpetual delegation When Congress adjourns without acting, the Party launches daily peaceful picketing at the White House gates. Despite freezing rain and violent bystanders who tear away their banners, hundreds of women stand as living statues holding purple, white, and gold colors.

War on the pickets Police begin arresting the picketers, leading to trials where women are fined or sentenced to the District jail and Occoquan Workhouse. Imprisoned activists endure filthy bedding, rotten food, and physical abuse, using sworn affidavits to expose the harsh penal conditions to the public.

Watchfires and final victory The activists escalate their pressure by burning President Wilson's speeches in urns outside the White House, prompting another wave of arrests. Following Wilson's capitulation, organizers mount an intense lobbying campaign across state legislatures, securing the final votes needed to ratify the amendment.

The People

• Alice Paul: The visionary founder and driving force of the movement. She possesses an extraordinary news sense, a creative flair for large-scale staging, and an uncompromising focus on the cause. Unmoved by personal gratitude or conventional social pleasantries, she expects total devotion from everyone around her, constantly pushing her organizers to work harder and never yielding to administrative intimidation or failing health.
• Lucy Burns: A key co-founder and intellectual powerhouse whose editorials in The Suffragist serve as models of ironic logic and forceful expression. She orchestrates complex political strategies, confronts prison officials over brutal workhouse conditions, and repeatedly returns to the front lines of protest despite harsh legal penalties.
• Mabel Vernon: A tireless national organizer and brilliant speaker who can hold an audience's attention for hours under adverse conditions. Whether speaking spontaneously during roadside breakdown delays in Kansas or traveling the resort regions of the East Coast, she brings infectious energy to the grassroots campaign.
• Rose Winslow: A passionate speaker who represents working-class women and factory laborers. Drawing from her personal background in Eastern industry, her speeches in remote mining and lumber towns move audiences to tears, effectively connecting the suffrage cause to the struggles of exploited labor.
• Maud Younger: A skilled lobbyist and organizer who coordinates congressional visits and state-level political campaigns. Known for her humor and persistence, she tracks down elusive legislators in remote hotels and train stations, using meticulous polling data to back politicians into corners.
• Sara Bard Field: A prominent envoy who travels the nation in a Suffrage automobile, acting as a vivid public face for the movement from the Pacific coast to major Midwestern receptions.

In Its Own Voice

“Most of those who worked with me in the early years have gone. I am here for a little time only and my place will be filled as theirs was filled. The fight must not cease; you must see that it does not stop.”

Susan B. Anthony spoke these words near the end of her life, establishing the uncompromising ethos of duty that passed directly to the young leaders of the National Woman's Party.

“You told me that you were in favor of having this matter remain in committee until December, because you felt it would be embarrassing to some men who would run for office next fall. As a trades-unionist, as well as a woman voter, I feel that the eight million working women of this country are entitled to as much consideration as are a few politicians.”

A female labor delegate delivered this sharp rebuke directly to a hesitant congressman, exposing the friction between working-class needs and political expediency.

“By burning the hypocritical words of President Wilson, we have expressed the unmistakable impatience of American women. In place of words, these women demand action. I am glad to have taken part in the expression of that demand.”

Elsie T. Russian made this statement to a courtroom judge after being arrested for burning presidential speeches, capturing the militant resolve of the watchfire demonstrators.

What It's Really About

Beneath its chronological record of meetings, rallies, and court battles, the narrative is an extended study in the mechanics of political agitation and nonviolent coercion. It argues that meaningful constitutional change is never granted out of benevolence; it must be extracted through systematic, unyielding pressure on those in power. The text explores the tension between traditional, polite advocacy and militant direct action, demonstrating how public theater, political discipline, and leverage over voting blocs can force a reluctant government to act.

The work also examines the deep double standards of American democracy during wartime, contrasting the nation's high-minded rhetoric about freedom abroad with its suppression of political dissent at home. Through its accounts of police brutality and prison abuse, the book exposes how rapidly democratic institutions resort to state power when challenged by disciplined citizens. Ultimately, it celebrates the power of organized womanhood, demonstrating how a small, committed minority can reshape the supreme law of the land through sheer willpower and tactical skill.

Why Read It Today

This account is essential reading for historians, political strategists, and anyone interested in the mechanics of social movements. Rather than offering a detached, academic overview, it presents an immediate, ground-level view of an unprecedented political campaign. Readers who enjoy detailed histories of American politics will appreciate its exhaustive documentation of legislative maneuvering, media strategy, and campaign logistics.

The prose is clear, direct, and filled with vivid, human details—from the logistical chaos of commandeering raincoats during White House pickets to the tense late-night political negotiations in rural hotel rooms. While the text is long and occasionally dense with lists of committee members, delegates, and financial accounting, these details give the narrative its authentic texture. Modern readers may occasionally find the era's formal political conventions dated, but the core drama of citizens confronting power remains thrilling.

What lingers long after reading is the astonishing grit of the individual activists. The image of frail women standing silently at government gates while banners are torn from their hands, or enduring vermin and rotten food in prison cells for the right to vote, offers a sobering reminder of the true cost of basic civil rights.