Chaining myself to give a voice

Women protesting at the White House in 1917.

Foner begins the section on women’s suffrage by introducing the point that the ideals of democracy and freedom reached the minds of women. Even though the topic was a little bit short, it summarized that time in history moderately well. Foner mentions that during World War I, many women promoted patriotic values and worked at war production jobs and as nurses. Those women believed that in the long run, their work will pay off and that they will finally achieve equality at home. Foner already then stated that this was false hope and Wilson had other things in mind. World War I also brought a new generation of college-educated women activists called the National Women’s Party, that used military tactics to hold a voice. Foner used an Alice Paul as an example. She chained herself to the White House fence which resulted in her imprisonment and went on hunger strike in jail and had to be force-fed. The combination of this movement at that time spurred full outrage and forced Wilson to comply with them. The 19th Amendment was then created, giving women the right to vote.

However, there are two questions I want to ask about this section:

1) What exactly was the outrage that occurred when Alice Paul was in jail?

2) How did the National Women’s Party came to be?

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