A Woman's Place · Episode 1 of 12 · 20 min
The March: The 1913 Suffrage Procession and the Law of Coverture
The day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, thousands of women marched up Pennsylvania Avenue and were jeered, grabbed, and nearly crushed by a mob while police looked on. The episode opens the series with the marchers and the legal world they were escaping: coverture, the doctrine that merged a wife's legal existence into her husband's.
Who's who
- Alice Paul+3 more episodesQuaker organizer and chief architect of the 1913 procession
- Lucy BurnsPaul's co-organizer and vice-chair of the Congressional Committee
- Inez Milhollandlabor lawyer who led the procession on a white horse
- Jane Walker BurlesonGrand Marshal of the procession
- Ida B. Wells-Barnett+2 more episodesjournalist who rejoined the Illinois delegation mid-route
- Richard H. SylvesterD.C. police superintendent whose force failed to protect marchers
- William Blackstone+1 more episodeEnglish jurist whose Commentaries codified coverture
- Woodrow Wilson+9 more episodespresident-elect arriving to thin crowds
Where it happens
- Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.route of the 1913 suffrage procession
- Fort Myer, Virginiacavalry sent to clear the route
- Goucher College, Marylandstudents and faculty marched in the procession
Timeline
- 1765-1769Blackstone's Commentaries describe a wife's legal existence as suspended
- 1848New York passes a Married Women's Property Act; Seneca Falls convenes
- March 3, 1913suffrage procession is mobbed; about 100 marchers go to hospital
- March 4, 1913Wilson is inaugurated
- August 1920Nineteenth Amendment ratified
Still debated
Marcher and crowd figures vary widely, from over 5,000 to 10,000 marchers. Injury counts differ, and the fate of the police chief is often oversimplified, since the Senate exonerated him before he resigned in 1915.
Connected episodes in other series
One Vote per Household — Coverture ReturnsBest Supporting Actress · Episode 9Also features William Blackstone
How Los Angeles Drained the Owens Valley — and Drowned Hetch HetchyCalifornia and Water · Episode 2Also features Woodrow Wilson
How Eugenics Was Born: Galton, Darwin & the Dream of Breeding Better HumansEugenics: The Well-Born Science · Episode 2Also features Woodrow Wilson
The Opening: The Laws That Changed, and the ERA That DiedHaving It All · Episode 2Also features Alice Paul