And They All Wore White - An historical Fiction

It was the 3^rd of March in the year 1913, a day before the inauguration of the 28^th President of the United States. It was an unusually warm but overcast day for March. As Woodrow Wilson arrived expecting crowds of well wishers, he was surprised to find himself alone on the street. It seemed the crowds had gathered at a different kind of spectacle down on Pennsylvania Avenue, a woman suffrage march.

Five thousand women dressed in white carrying purple, violet and gold banners, marched behind suffragist leaders Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. Knowing both press and crowds would be there for the inaugural, the women hoped to bring attention to their cause, an amendment to the US constitution to grant women the right to vote. An estimated ½ million watched as the women marched; mostly just curious onlookers but it also included a very loud and angry opposition group. The women were greeted with shouts and jeers. They were spat at. Lit cigarette butts were thrown at them. They were slapped, mobbed and beaten; the police did nothing to protect them.

Included in the crowd were three youngsters, Thomas Majors, 13 years old, his younger sister Sarah, 8 years old, and his friend Charles Boris, also 13 years old. They had snuck through the large crowd to get a front row position. At first they had come out of simple curiosity, but the boys got caught up in the moment and began hollering insults at the women marchers, mimicking the hostile crowd.

Charles shouted, “Look at those hags. You are hags, witches! You need a good slapping you hags!”

Thomas joined in yelling: “Go away witches. None of you have the sense to know how to vote. Just look at those cows. Where are your udders? “

Charles continued: “Go home where you belong you stupid cows.”

As the boys continued to yell and hoot at the women, neither one noticed Sarah At first she just stood there watching the women marching. As she looked at the women looking both proud and frightened, Sarah then turned to look up at her brother and his friend. As she watched the boys jeer and yell, she got noticeably upset. But nobody was noticing her.

Sarah then turned and watched others in the crowd. She saw faces of her neighbours, but she could hardly recognize them all contorted with anger. She saw, more than heard, the ugly words being slung out of their mouths. As the crowds started to move towards the women, shoving and hitting, Sarah seemed to disappear into herself.

The din and anger of the crowd pushed Sarah forward until she found herself holding tightly onto the hand of one of the marchers. Two hundred women were injured that day, including 8 year old Sarah Majors.

The hostility and violence toward the women created a public outcry, and in effect generated increasing support for woman’s rights and suffrage. It could be called a turning point for the success of the amendment. For Sarah Majors it was the defining moment in her life. She never looked back from her road of activism.