Worsening Conditions / Violent Repression

As World War I continued, suffragists picketing the White House faced longer prison sentences and, when denied recognition as political prisoners, many went on hunger strikes and were force-fed at the District of Columbia Jail and the Occoquan Workhouse. The D.C. Jail was old, damp, cold, foul-smelling, poorly ventilated, and rat-infested, while Occoquan's physical setting was cleaner and newer but its treatment of prisoners was extremely brutal. To keep the campaign under strong leadership, Alice Paul avoided arrest until October 1917, then deliberately joined the picket line, was arrested on October 20, and while held in the D.C. Jail was subjected to a psychiatric examination that found her sane and willing to die for her cause. After suffragists protested her imprisonment and were repeatedly arrested, women convicted on November 14, 1917, were sent to the Occoquan Workhouse or fined. That evening, after demanding political prisoner status and refusing to give their names, they were seized by order of Superintendent Raymond Whittaker, dragged to another building, and thrown into bitterly cold punishment cells. Dorothy Day was slammed over a bench, Dora Lewis was knocked unconscious against a metal bed frame, Alice Cosu became gravely ill believing Lewis was dead, and Lucy Burns was shackled to cell bars above her head all night. None of their injuries was treated that night, and public outrage over this violence made the Night of Terror a turning point in the suffrage movement.

Laurel Hill, Virginia · United States