Jailed for Freedom
Publisher Description
A first-hand account of the 1913-1919 campaign of American suffragists, detailing their treatment at the hands of the courts, and the true conditions of their incarceration. This book deals with the intensive campaign of the militant suffragists of America [1913 1919] to win a solitary thing the passage by Congress of the national suffrage amendment enfranchising women. It is the story of the first organized militant , political action in America to this end. The militants differed from the pure propagandists in the woman suffrage movement chiefly in that they had a clear comprehension of the forces which prevail in politics. They appreciated the necessity of the propaganda stage and the beautiful heroism of those who had led in the pioneer agitation, but they knew that this stage belonged to the past; these methods were no longer necessary or effective.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
American women fought hard, and many paid dearly, to win the right to vote. Stevens saw action in the front lines of the battle and was one of the dozens of women imprisoned for picketing the White House. First published in 1920, this long-out-of-print book offers Stevens's firsthand account of the women who endured the indifference of Congress and President Woodrow Wilson, the abuse by the press and the police, beatings at the hands of mobs and forced feedings in foul workhouses to force passage of the 19th Amendment. Although Jailed for Freedom was conceived as a history of the National Woman's Party (NWP), O'Hare has edited out the ``minute detail of legislative politics, author bias, and verbiage,'' leaving a vivid partisan account that clearly conveys the excitement of both battle and victory. Photos not seen by PW.
