Did We Learn About Any Of This In HERStory?...I Mean, HIStory.

ALICE PAUL
Where did this information go if not in our classrooms when we were learning that Women got the vote in 1920? Prior to seeing the movie, Iron Jawed Angels, I knew women got the vote in 1920, but I had no idea the cost it took to get the vote and the amazing bravery behind this effort. HBO produced this movie starring Hilary Swank telling the story of Suffrage with a contemporary twist. Alice Paul, the leader behind the movement, is a heroin that was never mentioned in any of my history books nor included in any of the stories surrounding suffrage. I had no idea hundreds of women went to prison trying to get the vote, that women were force fed raw eggs through feeding tubes as a means to get them to stop picketing the president to get the vote, that women were harassed, violently acted upon and seen as "insane" due to their desire to have a say in the very laws they were expected to abide by. My very own Great Grandmother Susa Y Gates, was a leader for the suffrage movement in the west. These nameless women were strong, they were brave and they fought for the luxury we now have today of voting. It's high time we start balancing out HIStory and teaching our children how women received the vote and how far from casual the process was. --@DP