Suffragists picketed the White House from 10am-6pm every day but Sundays. They continued - attacked by mobs, arrested constantly - for more than two years. But in their first months, the pickets were greeted warmly.🧵 
Until January 1917, no one had ever done what they were doing. Frustrated at President Wilson’s refusal to support a federal suffrage amendment, they were the first Americans to stand outside the mansion in protest.
They walked 4-hour shifts, leaving only when relief arrived.
They walked 4-hour shifts, leaving only when relief arrived.
They continued in every kind of weather, though in heavy rain and snow shifts were 2 hours. To stay warm, the janitor from National Woman’s Party HQ brought wheelbarrows of hot bricks to stand on. In this picture from Jan. 26, they’re standing on boards to keep their feet drier.
National Woman’s Party members from around the country traveled to Washington to picket. These women from Minnesota might have been the only ones with warm enough clothing! They're in front of NWP's office on Lafayette Square, in sight of the White House.
There were state days, days for different professions, a wage earners’ day & a women voters day 👇(for women from western states). Alice Paul asked Mary Church Terrell to join the pickets, and she did, bringing her teenage daughter Phyllis too.
Alice knew of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s non-violent tactics in South Africa, and trained the National Woman’s Party picketers: do not respond to taunts, do not lash back, refuse to be provoked.
This was easy at first, as the initial public reception was positive.
This was easy at first, as the initial public reception was positive.
People came to watch, and many expressed support for the cause and admiration for the effort. The women’s tenacity - especially in winter - earned respect even from suffrage skeptics.
But the goodwill evaporated when the U.S. went to war.
#19thAmendment #suffrage100
But the goodwill evaporated when the U.S. went to war.
#19thAmendment #suffrage100
