Lorton's Silent Sentinels Descend on Washington

There are protestors outside the White House every day, but not in period dress and not always from Lorton. On Wednesday, ten women from the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial picketed the White House and recreated the 1917 protest for a woman's right to vote. 

"These brave women from all over the country were the first people to ever picket in front of the White House," said Jane Barker, Board Chair of Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association. "The sentiment of the public at that time was that women should not have the right to vote. The country was looking at going to war, and the country was very much divided on the issue of women's rights at the time."

The group also marched on Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers for support of the construction of the memorial. 

The original protest sparked controversy after about 200 women were arrested and about 70 were brutally treated at the Occoquan Workhouse, which helped lead to the passage of the 19th Amendment.

"They were force fed, beaten, thrown down stairs, and it really was quite brutal," Barker said. "But these women started to get word out, and the message got through to the press, and after word got out internationally, it literally was the turning point in the suffragist movement." 

The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association is fundraising for the creation of the outdoor memorial at Occoquan Regional Park. The group needs to raise between $7 and 9 million. A replica of the White House gate will commemorate the protest. 

"They were out there nearly a year until they were arrested for obstructing the sidewalk," Barker said. 

The association is looking for descendants of suffragists. "This information is just not in the history books, and we want to change that," said Barker.