Over a hundred years ago, women organized to demand the right to vote. They were harassed, arrested, tortured, and abused by citizens and the government for their audacity. On January 9, 1917, the Silent Sentinels began to demonstrate outside the White House, holding signs but remaining stoically silent. They endured the hatred and violence thrown at them, some of it from other suffragists, but more than two years later the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, prohibiting denial of voting rights on the basis of sex. Protest works. It’s not easy, and it’s not necessarily quick, but it works.
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