On November 14, 1917, about 20 to 30 women who were protesting in front of the White House for equal rights and equal voting rights were arrested and beaten/treated brutally throughout their prison sentences. The group of women was a mix of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Woman’s Party (NWP). When the groups first emerged into the public eye, the president at the time, Woodrow Wilson, allowed the protesting until the United States entered World War I in April of that year. With the war, any question or criticism of the government was not taken lightly. With the increase in protests, the police issued a statement saying, “If the picket continued, protesters could face sentences of up to six months in prison. Many of the arrested protesters were charged with “obstructing traffic” or given fines” (Arlington Public Library).  The women who were protesting at the White House were sent to the Occoquan Workhouse and the guards were ordered by Occoquan Superintendent W.H. Whittaker to physically assault the women in their care. Whittaker refused to hear the demands made by the women, especially since they were a peaceful protest and he continuously had his men beat and throw the women around while they were imprisoned. Several of the women resorted to hunger strikes to the point that when they were released they had to have assistance with walking. Several of the guards tried to force-feed the women with food that was inedible. As Janice Law Trecker stated in her article, The Suffrage Prisoners, “As at Occoquan, prisoners suffering from the last stages of tuberculosis and venereal disease mingled freely with healthy prisoners. Rose Winslow, a former mill worker and Consumers’ League organizer, wrote her husband that she and Alice Paul had learned that their bath tub was the one used by the syphilitics in the ward” (Trecker, 418). Several of the women endured severe injuries. Alice Cosu, who witnessed her friend, Dora Lewis, have her head violently smacked into an iron bed suffered from a heart attack and wasn’t treated for it until the next day. Minnie P. Quay wrote about her experience in Occoquan and the abuse she, and several women, endured until they were released. As stated in her letter, “He sent me over to the men’s hospital where I remained for then days. The first three days I was fed on bread and fifty milk, and something in it taste like carbolic acid.” When the women went for their court dates they were sent in on stretchers due to their conditions. A few months after this protest in early January 1918, President Wilson acknowledged the women’s movement and showed his support by contributing to the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote in 1920.

This protest can connect to how women in South Korea are protesting for their equal rights in political and social standards. The rise of protesting in the 1900s was because women were doing male-dominated jobs due to the wars and wanted to continue on that course of independence and not have to rely on a man. South Korea has been having an issue with women being hired into the workforce due to their beliefs that women should remain at home. Not only that, but the pay gap is also extremely lower than between men and women. Plus, mothers who try to re-enter the workforce are discriminated against since their society believes that mothers still need to handle childcare and household responsibilities. That’s why several women are partaking in the 4B movement so they can have equal rights in society and the workforce. While women are partaking in the 4B movement, they actively protest in the streets and go to their government buildings with signs and groups. Not only did the women in the 1900s have to fight against male leaders, like President Wilson, but the women of South Korea also had to protest against their president, Yoon Seok-Yul. Yoon Seok-Yul blames the women who are protesting for the declining birth rate and plans to abolish the country’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. While several men side with Yoon Seok-Yul and are trying to take away women’s rights, South Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world as of now.

Works Cited:

Primary Source:

P. Quay, Minnie. “The Night of Terror” | Suffrage and World War I | Confrontations, Sacrifice, and the Struggle for Democracy, 1916–1917 | Explore | Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote | Exhibitions at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress.” Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, 28 Nov. 1917, www.loc.gov/exhibitions/women-fight-for-the-vote/about-this-exhibition/c....

Secondary Source:

JANICE LAW TRECKER. “The Suffrage Prisoners.” The American Scholar, vol. 41, no. 3, 1972, pp. 409–23. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41208790. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.

Additional Sources:

“1917 | Historical Timeline of the National Womans Party | Articles and Essays | Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman’s Party | Digital Collections | Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, 2015, www.loc.gov/collections/women-of-protest/articles-and-essays/historial-t....

Web Editor. “This Week in 19th Amendment History: The Night of Terror.” Arlingtonva.us, 12 Nov. 2019, library.arlingtonva.us/2019/11/12/this-week-in-19th-amendment-history-the-night-of-terror/.