♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hi i am set to. i had -- jennifer krafchik. i have been here for 10 years and have been director of collections here as well which means that i do all of the exhibits and interpretation and that merit -- manage the suffrage in a glorious artifacts. the house is one of the oldest houses on capitol hill.

it was built by man named robert sewell and 1800. was one of the only houses here to be deliberately burned during the war of 1812. a british soldier and his troops were passing by the house and some american troops were here in the house and they shot a force out from underneath the british german -- general so the story goes. the british print house in retaliation. the house was built by 1820 believe the majority was burned to the ground that it was rebuilt in 1820 and robert sewell pass it on to his family so it stayed with the family until 1923 was taken over by senator porter dale and his wife who were from vermont in 1920 and they lift here until 1929 then was taken over by the national women's party in 1929. the nationalist party was the suffrage equal rights organization run by a woman named alice paul. the nationalist party worked from 1913 when it was founded

until the late 90s for social political and economic equality for women both here in the united states and abroad. the national women's party founded in 1913 was in response to sort available in the suffrage movement. women have been working for women's rights in this country since 1848 and then browse that time they had their ups and downs and it adds an float a long time and then by the time we reached the early 1900s when women like elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony passed away women and organizations had a stall point and the national woman's party came in at a critical point and carry the movement through to completion. alice paul learned her tactics and strategies from the british suffrage movement.

she worked over in england with the women's social and political union for several years. she was arrested while she was over there. she went on hunger strikes. she gave speeches, she picketed and then she came to the united states in 1912 with a mission. she came back knowing that she wanted to join the women's movement and she wanted to see the women's right to vote to pass the united states. her tactics were seen as a little bit -- so she formed her own organization. they were the first group to picket the white house from 1917 until 1919 and they were arrested and put in prison as a result. i just want to put it -- point out here the steps at the site they are the steps to the workhouse which was in lorton virginia. these women were imprisoned in the workhouse from three days to

six months and managed to obtain the status when they tore down the old workhouse a few years ago. so they are one of our most important assets for the collection and one that we are hoping to see more fully when we reopened in a few months. >> we are undergoing several renovation projects and major changes within the house. our biggest change we are having safety improvements made to the site as well as disability upgrades. we will have sprinklers throughout most of the site and we will also be 80% successful which is huge for us. we are expecting the work will take place for about five months. we are hoping to reopen in time for women -- or at least partially open by march 1. we are also looking at conservationists collections.

we are doing on new interpretation so that will mean we will be able to display more collections than we ever have before and bringing collections of people have never seen before. i have great artifacts would love to show you you that will be on display will be open. they were the first group to take the white house in 1917 and two sort of frame it for you the party was founded as a congressional union in 1913. alice paul and lucy burns worked together with the national american woman suffrage association and they founded the congressional committee which was designed to lobby. the suffrage association didn't have a whole lot of faith and alice paul being able to achieve the federal amendment so they center with $10 to washington d.c. and said this is your budget, make it work. so alice paul opened the

basement on f. street and lucy burns began -- and lucy burns -- the first thing that alice paul and lucy burns were to do was to stage a parade. they wanted to have a large suffrage parade held in united states and so alice paul began working for that goal and the idea was the day before woodrow wilson's inauguration that they would attract all the crowds that were already in town and all of these other crowds in the area. they would get the papers delivered to them. it would be the biggest suffragists parade held in nine states and that is what alice paul wanted to do. she worked for months to build this parade and they managed to get all up the permits that they needed to and they try to engage the police to help support them and the police were not all that interested in guarding the parade. they knows -- new there might be

problems the data for the parade or the day of the parade so it was a thousand women marching down pennsylvania avenue to the white house to lobby for the suffrage movement and the most interesting thing about the parade is woodrow wilson arrived at the union station already too great crowds of people there and he looked around at a handful of people there and he said where are all the people? they said they are down at the march looking up a women. so woodrow wilson was not too pleased about that. meanwhile at the parade route there are all these men and some women as well watching the parade go by. a lot of them were drunk. a lot of them were rowdy. the parade eventually broke down they went into the parade route and people began attacking the floats in the suffragists and ultimately the fort myer calvary

had to be called in because the police aren't doing their job. one the things that i find fascinating is after the parade the police chief was fired as a result because the parade broke to such an extent. so alice paul got what alice paul wanted which was publicity with things you find in a strategy from 1913 all the way through to her lobby for the rights amendment in the 20s, 30s and 40s and she believed any publicity was good publicity, negative positive didn't matter. that's what happened with the parade. adverse president wilson was amenable to meeting with suffragists. it was all very cordial until you get to the end of 1916.

if and of 1916 that woman named inez guzman passed away. this is an important story because inez was one of the spokesman for the suffrage movement in the women's party. she traveled all over the united states making speeches. she was the one who led the 1913 parades down pennsylvania avenue and she passed away. she had pernicious anemia and she was very sick. she wasn't taking care herself and she passed away. the story was she was giving a speech and said mr. president, long muslim and wait for liberty and she collapsed in a few weeks later she passed away pitching was the first woman for more allies to the u.s. capital in the rotunda. the reason i'm telling that story is because around that time alison -- alice paul tried to get in with the president wilson had this point he refused to meet them. that was a state issue and he would no longer meet with the women's interviews.

this was right around the holidays, so january 1 alice paul made the decision was time to take the white house. alice paul began sending suffragists every day dawn until dusk to stand standard from the white house with banners that would relay messages to the president. it was a type of voiceless speech if you will. they were using their banners to tell the president everything he they thought he should know and they stood there for months and 1917 at the beginning of 1917 that was all very peaceful. they would attract some onlookers some press attention and president wilson would drive out to the gates of the white house and texas have cordially to them. he would invite them -- offered them coffee and things like that but nothing really -- he saw

them as an interesting spectacle if you will. but then something shifted. in april of 1917 the united states entered world war i and all of a sudden people protesting the president and the democratic party in the white house wasn't all that attractive to people and so the attitude towards these women shifted. there were no longer seen as benign but in fact potential problems. at this time you see other women's groups turning their attention to the war effort. alice paul did not believe that was a priority and she was seen during the civil war and shifted to this idea and then they were delayed for many many years. she wasn't willing to let it be delayed for she saw there was momentum so instead of stepping back she stepped up the effort.

the banners became more confrontational. the banners, the message's on the banners became more in-your-face and these women became more per problem. alice paul believed they had exhausted every other method for lobbying the president that this point. they sent delegations and had done the marches down pennsylvania avenue. they had gone throughout the united states lobbying against congress to give people reelected and none of it was working. alice paul stopped picketing as their last option and a really was quite a brilliant option. these women stood in front of white house and the banners you see before you are banners that aren't going to spark too much controversy. the slogans they put on them, the manner in which they are speaking to the president is not

confrontational. the reason we don't have those confrontational banners is because later they were torn from their hands and they were destroyed. these women were attacked and thrown in prison and along with them unfortunately most of those banners were destroyed. these banners are the price of our collection. these women were young. they were ready to take on the president. they were going to the white house and they were going to be there every day. it was just sort of a statement of here we are, deal with us. then you see this banner and this is probably the most important slogan of the entire movement. you see this banner repeated over and over again. mr. president what will you do for women's suffrage is? mr. president what we do for women's liberty? all takeoffs on the same statement. the slogan was repeated over and over again in the patch only one of these in our collection.

i want to take the time to put up the colors you see before you. the purple and gold. these are colors of the national women's party that were purple white and gold. the purple state for the royal glory of women. the white stood for. he at home and in politics and the gold for the crown. all grand concepts. the concepts. in wp never did anything beating back the women's movement never did anything unless it had meaning behind it. every color you see has meaning behind it. every piece, every artifact you see as significance. that's important as we talk through all of this. behind these banners i want to point out the original banner. these are the original pulls that they used to carry the banners and the white house from 1970 -- and then we will come over here really quickly and i will point out these last few which you will notice first off

are significantly faded. the first one if you can read it says working women need to vote. in 1917 when they started picketing they picketed every day except for sunday from dawn until dusk every single day to thousands of women picketing the white house. women who worked in factories worked every day except for sunday. they didn't have any options. alice paul being the brilliant woman that she was, she designated a day in factories working woman day on the sunday for factory women to go to the white house and it was hugely successful. it appeared in the papers. it happened in february of 1917. a lot of what alice paul during during -- did during this time because you want to keep getting women into the newspapers was to designate dean days. very simple very straightforward.

she had working women stay, she had maryland a inch in florida and pennsylvania day. she had a day where they celebrated bastille day. it was an effort to keep it in the papers and then finally you have one of my favorites in the collection saying that failure is possible. it was from a speech that susan b. anthony made in the speech was called failure is impossible which is fairly explanatory. the national party and other women's groups continually brought up the pioneer women so a lot of the banners reflected traditional slogans for years and years speeches and failures failures -- failure is impossible was one. some of the artifacts that are items that will be displayed when we are reopening, we made

this discovery not long ago. these three items here. ms. gray, natalie gray was one of the women he was arrested and she was arrested on august 20, 191717 and she sewed these items. we are not sure if she sold them while she was imprisoned. we think she did and they are just false grabs specifically this one document into people in prison with her. madeline watson lucy ewing catherine flanigan and edna dickson and then you see natalie 's name at the bottom. you also see this other piece here is so container. obviously she had a place to store herself and finally this little bag which has fully think as a calling card on it and it says ms. gray august 20, 1917

and the place card. this is a place card of a dinner in honor of these women who were released in september of 1917 cameron house washington d.c.. one of the artifacts i want to point out is this jailhouse door panted over 100 women were arrested and sent to prison sentences who served time in the district prison and so alice paul wanted to reward them. a dinner in november of 1917 she reported all of these women with bad to bonners, jailhouse door pins and these women took this very seriously. many of these women these forever. they were passed down to their families and we have to have one in our collection. alice paul is at the national museum of american history. we have another woman. these were very special considered significant throughout their lives.

alice paul received hers when she was imprisoned in england for picketing there. she brought this idea back united states. these are really important because the only pieces that we have from when they were in prison and we think they use them, she would take them with them on what they called this prison special which was a tour around the country where they would talk about their experiences and dress in her prison garb. they would go out and speak to people about their experiences in prison was so people would know what had happened to them and began to change the momentum of the movement. you really worked. throughout 1917 while these women were being arrested and thrown in jail the tide of the press simply started to switch to these women. coupled with that the issue the hunger strike and i want to talk a little bit about that. in october of 1917 alice paul was arrested for picketing the

white house. it was the first time she was arrested in america and she was sentenced to six months in prison. at that time she was in solitary confinement. another woman alongside another woman were put in solitary confinement in alice paul knew what she had to do. she believed her comrades were not being treated well p. she needed to do something to send a message that she went on a hunger strike. officials in the prisons and president wilson and other important people at that point realizing this woman could potentially become a martyr for this movement which was the last thing they wanted. they began force-feeding the women and in order to get them the nutrients they need. involve putting tubes down their throat, down her nose and forcing food down pouring raw eggs down the tubes into their noses.

fairly intense and pretty damaging to their bodies. not only were they going on hunger strikes were they weren't eating for days at a time that they were forced into the situation where they were strapped down and help down and food was forced down. it did some damage to all of them. as these women were being released from prison they are going out on stretchers and they have to be supported by other people. it was a fairly intense time. alice paul was in the midst of it leading the way. this is where you see the power of alice paul and people like alice paul, leaders of the movements. these willing -- one were willing to follow what their leader was suggesting that they do and many of them dead -- did. 160 women were in prison and most them at one point or another were on hunger strikes. one the most interesting things i think they did, they would sell products to raise money

around the suffrage movement. they developed playing cards. these are actual playing cards that they used. which is recently inquired -- acquired these into our collection today are very rare and they would sell these preview is another way to get their message out there and to raise money. so this is one thing and then you have votes for women. one woman who haven't mentioned was how the belmont. she was their president from 1924 to 1920 -- 1933 and sheep with an idea of holding suffrage tees and gathering people together after newport home and she kind of point this votes for women china china idea. again fairly rare but we have some of the china in our collection. suffrage tea is something you see repeated from years before

the national women's party came along and something that was repeated over and over again. i also have the gavel from the official national women's party meeting in 1916 signed by some of the members. the nationalist party as i was telling you what became the national party in 1916 so this is the first gavel that was used at the first national women's party. something we don't show very often. going into some of their eggs another piece we are very excited to show is the congressional cardfile. this is where you see the mindset of these women that it wasn't just about these gestures like picketing the white house and suffrage parades and all of that. you see the behind-the-scenes work lobbing for congressman.

for every member of congress they would keep a series of cards on them and this was nicknamed by many the deadly card index. they would gather as much information as they could about these men so when they went to lobby for them they would know what they were talking about in the personal information as well as professional information about them. it was all about information gathering and going out to lobby them said during the suffrage movement they had these detailed cards that have been in their address their profession and they would also have things like who their children were and where they went to school and what their focus was on in school and their nationality, their religion, all types of personal information they could use than they were going to lobby them. also the more professional information things about where they stood on equal rights,

where they stood in their communities so whether they would have a chance of being reelected so should these women be wasting their time on a commerce money wasn't going to be reelected in the next election but this was a recent acquisition of our collection when we are cited about. this is the voting machine and it actually has to the question on michelle woman be allowed to vote? we believe we think this was a machine used as a tester machine so it was one that they were breaking in on how it worked and it included the women's voting questions. obviously, you can't quite see the dial but it votes yes or no, yes or no. we actually purchased any of them. sometimes people come to us and say i know that this thing is for sale or for you will see something on e-bay but a lot of times shots will contact us and

say hey i just got this and you might be interested or don't generally buy lot for collections but this happened to come our way. we have one of the most intact suffered collections in the country. we have probably over 40,000 items in our collection. we have over 800 textiles and over 5000 photographs. we have more than 65 scraps in our collection we have artifacts and congressional cardfile's. we have over 3000 congressional file cards in our collection. we have over 200 political cartoons. we have artwork and decorative art so it runs the gamut. some of the things they can't show you because they are in storage includes a chair. we have portraits about alice paul and lucy burns and other women who fought for the right to vote and equal rights amendment for their entire lives.

we have a fairly outstanding collection and we are proud of showing up as they are going step up our exhibits quite a bit i think they are going to see more collections than i have ever seen before. we'll be able to bring about the items i have shown and more. they are going to see new tax, new signage, pic images. they are going to be able to see new technology. we are going to make use of ipods and cell phones. we are going to revamp our web site. it will become a place where they can't see it in the house you can see on the web site to people for the first time will be able to access our collection catalog. we have catalogued 30% of our collection at this point so we are very excited about all the changes and it will be an ongoing work. when we open in march we are expected to be partially open and have some of our galleries looking great. we will be making big changes

that the air. one thing to keep in mind as you are leaving the sewell-belmont house, this was the location where they lobbied for it all right for women in terms of equal rights amendment and other legislation they wanted past to improve the equality of women in this country. backing up just a little bit in 1919 congress passed the federal amendment and send it out to the state for ratification. on august 20, 1920 the 36th and final state to ratify the 19th amendment in august 26 it was ratified into law. it was passed into law. in 1920 the national party we organize and they began looking at the right to vote as a means to an end. it's just the beginning. there were so many other laws to tackle so in 1923 they introduced the equal rights amendment into congress and was introduced into congress every session for over 40 years.

the nationalist party lobbied from this site for the social political and economic equality for women in the form of improving equality for women in terms of women on juries, marriage laws, women and children, women and health care, women being able to choose their own career and just being able to make their own choices along the way. all along the way they continue to lobby for the equal rights amendment. there are organizations out there lobbying for the right. in terms of the nationalist party today we are no longer a lobbying organization. we became a 501(c)(3) physician 1997 so our mission is to educate the public about the national women's party in the history of this amazing organization and to preserve our outstanding collection of suffrage and equal rights materials for generations to come.

today the group of democratic senators talk about the gender wage gap and legislation into producing producing disparity disparity in women and men salaries. this hour-long portion of today's senate proceedings begins with hawaii senator mazzie hirono. with c today puts while this equal pay day. equal pay day means women have to work more than four months longer to catch up to what on average men made in 2015. the significant pay disparity has been going on for decades, generations even. even though it is against the law and has been against the law since the