The Day of Rebellion for the ERA was an event in 1982 organized by activists in support of the Equal Rights Amendment during the final struggle for ratification in Illinois. [1]
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The Day of Rebellion for the ERA was an event in 1982 organized by activists in support of the Equal Rights Amendment during the final struggle for ratification in Illinois. [1]
The Day of Rebellion occurred on June 3, 1982. [2] It was modeled after the militant wing of the women's suffrage movement and organized a group known as A Grassroots Group of Second Class Citizens. Direction action activities included the women chaining themselves to the entrance of the Senate chamber. [1] Participant May Lee Sargent from Champaign, Illinois said, "In the suffrage movement, this is called a militant demonstration." [1] The group occupied the capital for four days. [3] Some of the women even slept in their chains. [4]
Roughly 200 people took part in this direction action. [5] The women loudly encouraged legislators to free them from discrimination based on sex. [5] They chanted "equality now, break our chains" and "we want ERA." [6] This demonstration took place alongside a fast known as Women Hunger for Justice. [7]
17 people participated in this event. [1] Active participants included:
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the United States and its states from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex, in effect recognizing the right of women to vote. The amendment was the culmination of a decades-long movement for women's suffrage in the United States, at both the state and national levels, and was part of the worldwide movement towards women's suffrage and part of the wider women's rights movement. The first women's suffrage amendment was introduced in Congress in 1878. However, a suffrage amendment did not pass the House of Representatives until May 21, 1919, which was quickly followed by the Senate, on June 4, 1919. It was then submitted to the states for ratification, achieving the requisite 36 ratifications to secure adoption, and thereby go into effect, on August 18, 1920. The Nineteenth Amendment's adoption was certified on August 26, 1920.
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would, if added, explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It was written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman and introduced in Congress in December 1923 as a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The purpose of the ERA is to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and women in matters of divorce, property, employment, and other matters. Opponents originally argued it would remove protections that women needed. In the 21st century, opponents argue it is no longer needed and some fear it would be extended to abortion and transgender rights.
Sonia Ann Johnson, is an American feminist activist and writer. She was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and in the late 1970s was publicly critical of the position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which she was a member, against the proposed amendment. She was eventually excommunicated from the church for her activities. She went on to publish several radical feminist books, ran for president in 1984, and become a popular feminist speaker.
Alice Stokes Paul was an American Quaker, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the foremost leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits sex discrimination in the right to vote. Paul initiated, and along with Lucy Burns and others, strategized events such as the Woman Suffrage Procession and the Silent Sentinels, which were part of the successful campaign that resulted in the amendment's passage in August 1920.
The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NWP advocated for other issues including the Equal Rights Amendment. The most prominent leader of the National Woman's Party was Alice Paul, and its most notable event was the 1917–1919 Silent Sentinels vigil outside the gates of the White House.
The Silent Sentinels, also known as the Sentinels of Liberty, were a group of over 2,000 women in favor of women's suffrage organized by Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party, who nonviolently protested in front of the White House during Woodrow Wilson's presidency starting on January 10, 1917. Nearly 500 were arrested, and 168 served jail time. They were the first group to picket the White House. Later, they also protested in Lafayette Square, not stopping until June 4, 1919 when the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed both by the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage was an American organization formed in 1913 led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns to campaign for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women's suffrage. It was inspired by the United Kingdom's suffragette movement, which Paul and Burns had taken part in. Their continuous campaigning drew attention from congressmen, and in 1914 they were successful in forcing the amendment onto the floor for the first time in decades.
Zoe Nicholson is a feminist activist, author, and a longtime member of the National Organization for Women. Openly lesbian, she is known for her work as an independent historian of Alice Paul as well as her role in the campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment.
The Woman Suffrage Procession on March 3, 1913, was the first suffragist parade in Washington, D.C. It was also the first large, organized march on Washington for political purposes. The procession was organized by the suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Planning for the event began in Washington in December 1912. As stated in its official program, the parade's purpose was to "march in a spirit of protest against the present political organization of society, from which women are excluded."
This timeline highlights milestones in women's suffrage in the United States, particularly the right of women to vote in elections at federal and state levels.
Women's suffrage was established in the United States on a full or partial basis by various towns, counties, states, and territories during the latter decades of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century. As women received the right to vote in some places, they began running for public office and gaining positions as school board members, county clerks, state legislators, judges, and, in the case of Jeannette Rankin, as a member of Congress.
The St. Louis Equal Suffrage League was formed in 1910 in St. Louis, Missouri with the aim of "bring[ing] together men and women who are willing to consider the question of Equal Suffrage and by earnest co-operation to secure its establishment."
Caroline Katzenstein was an American suffragist, activist, advocate for equal rights, insurance agent, and author. She was active in the local Philadelphia suffragist movement through the Pennsylvania branch of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the Equal Franchise Society of Philadelphia. She played a role in the formation of the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage, which later became the National Women's Party. Katzenstein was also active in the movement for equal rights, serving on the Women's Joint Legislative Committee with Alice Paul, and championing the cause for the Equal Rights Amendment. She was the author of Lifting the Curtain: the State and National Woman Suffrage Campaigns in Pennsylvania as I Saw Them (1955).
Georgia Fuller is a women's rights activist who was heavily involved in the political struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1980s. She was a member of the Congressional Union, a feminist group in the 1980s, and was co-founder of the Arlington, Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
Grassroots Group of Second Class Citizens was a political organization of feminist women created in the early 1980s to undertake non-violent direct action tactics to raise awareness for the need of an Equal Rights Amendment. The group also advocated for reproductive rights and lasted throughout the 1980s.
A Group of Women was an American feminist organization in the 1980s who committed a series of actions in support of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Sonia Johnson was a notable member of this organization that advocated for the use of civil disobedience to raise awareness about the need for the ERA.
Mormons for ERA was a feminist organization that lobbied on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the 1970s and 1980s. The group was led by Sonia Johnson.
Mary Lee Sargent is a feminist activist notable for her direct action political protests on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment in the early 1980s.
Women Hunger for Justice was a direct action protest in support of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in Illinois in 1982. The fast received significant attention in the press and included the participation of Sonia Johnson, Sister Maureen Fiedler and Zoe Nicholson.
Women Rising in Resistance was a militant feminist group in Illinois in the 1980s. The group emerged after the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1982. It was formed in 1983 and lasted until 1992.