Katherine Dextre American History since 1850 Charlotte West 23 May 2016 Iron Jawed Angels Suffrage means the unassailable right to vote, and that is what women's suffrage movements wanted to accomplish. During the mid-nineteenth century, women’s suffrage movements started campaigns to fight for their right to vote in the United States. There were mass suffragist movements led by different organizations, the main ones were the National American Woman Suffrage - NAWSA and the National Woman’s Party – NWP (formed as an offshoot of the Congressional Union – CU). Both organizations played an essential role in the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, warranting women the right to vote. Even though these organizations …show more content…
Actions like this one and the fact the Paul did not give NAWSA's headquarters any of the fundraising upset Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Shaw, whom considered these actions as a boycott, wrongfully accusing Paul of thievery. Falsely accused of boycott, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns – a passionate activist - decided to split the CU from NAWSA on February 14, 1914 to focus on constitutional reform on June 5th, 1916. Eventually, CU formed the National Woman’s Party - NWP in 1916, whose main concern was the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment through the United States. Some suffragettes believed that a state-by-state strategy would be better to obligate Congress the approval of the federal amendment, while others consider this strategy as too …show more content…
Even though they were victims of racism of white suffragists, they never gave up and rose their voices fighting for women’s rights. In 1913, Alice Paul organized a women suffrage parade to coincide with President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. Some African American groups affiliated with the parade; however, this news was a secret as Southern women did not like the presence of African American women in the parade (Colored Women in Suffrage Parade, n.d.). In the film, Iron Jawed Angels, one of the most remarkable sentences made by Ida Wells Barnett, from the Chicago Delegation to Alice Paul was I’m told you expect Negro women to march in a separate unit, at the back... If we don’t stand up now, what happens to Negro women when you finally get the vote? ... [White women] They will keep us out of the polling place ...Dress up prejudice and call it politics?" … I will march with my peers or not at