The Story of the Woman's PartyGillmore, Inez Haynes
History
The Story of the Woman's Party
Gillmore, Inez Haynes
National Woman's Party; Paul, Alice, 1885-1977; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
In Chicago, described by the _Chicago Tribune_ as the “pivotal point of
the 1916 election,” this hostility was much more violent. The day that
Wilson spoke there a hundred women, some of them carrying inscribed
banners, stationed themselves at the entrance to the auditorium where he
was to appear. They were attacked by groups of men, who tore their
banners out of their hands, and demolished them. Several women were
thrown to the ground, and one, still clinging to the banner, was dragged
across the street.
This was followed by an attack upon Minnie E. Brooke, one of the Woman’s
Party speakers. She was alone, walking quietly down Michigan Boulevard.
She had a small purple, white, and gold flag in her hand, and was
wearing the regalia of the Woman’s Party. Suddenly two men darted up to
her, and tried to tear her colors away. In the struggle she was thrown
down and would have fallen in front of an automobile had not a hotel
employee run to her assistance.
However, in the out-of-way country places in the Western States, the
Woman’s Party speakers were received with that hearty hospitality, that
instant and instinctive chivalry, which marks the West. In this
campaign, they made a point of appearing in the State and County Fairs
which characterized the late summer and early fall months.
On Frontier Day, at the Douglas County Grange at Castle Rock, Colorado,
Elsie Hill spoke—to a grandstand crowded with people—between the end of
the relay race (in which the riders changed horses and saddles) and the
beginning of the steer-roping contest. On the stand were massed men,
women, and children. Just over the fence crowded hundreds of cowboys and
farmers.
Street processions also characterized this campaign. At night in Salt
Lake City occurred an extraordinary parade—a river of yellow. The squad
of mounted policemen who headed the procession wore the purple, white,
and gold regalia of the Woman’s Party. Marching women carried lighted
yellow Japanese lanterns. The people who filled the automobiles carried
yellow lanterns. The huge Amendment banner was yellow. Yellow banners
were strung across the streets.
Billboards and posters appeared everywhere which adjured voters not to
support Wilson or any Democratic candidates for Congress. In Tucson and
Prescott, Arizona, these great banners were surreptitiously cut down. In
California, the Democrats placed counter placards beside these
disturbing posters. In San Francisco, armed patrols guarded the two
conflicting posters in one hotel lobby.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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