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Home » Events » I Want to Go to Jail

I Want to Go to Jail

November 30, 2018 By Karen Price

On Thursday, February 28, 2019, the Women’s Suffrage Celebration Coalition of Massachusetts (WSCC), the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center, the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail, and We Did it For You! Women’s Journey Through History co-sponsored a commemoration of the centennial of a seminal moment in the 72-year woman suffrage movement: the last suffragists arrested and jailed for picketing President Woodrow Wilson – at the State House in Boston!  A staged reading of “I Want to Go to Jail” was performed in period costumes by cast members from We Did it For You! Women’s Journey Through History. The commemoration event took place at the Massachusetts State House, the site where the suffragists were arrested 100 years earlier.

WSCC Founder and President Fredie Kay welcomed the audience, introduced the speakers, and thanked them for their unwavering commitment to issues that impact all women. WSCC was honored to have these women leaders as part of our program: Senate President Karen E. Spilka, Auditor Suzanne M. Bump, Senate President Emerita Harriette L. Chandler, Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia A. Haddad, and Representative Tram T. Nguyen.

February 24, 2019 was proclaimed “Jailed for Freedom Day” in a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Proclamation issued by Governor Charles D. Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn E. Polito, and Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin. The City of Boston recognized the 100th Anniversary of the women jailed for freedom in 1919, and the State House event in an Official Resolution offered and signed by City Councilor Ed Flynn, and signed by Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell and the other eleven members of the Boston City Council: Annissa Essaibi George, Michael Flaherty, Althea Garrison, Michelle Wu, Lydia Edwards, Frank Baker, Timothy McCarthy, Matt O’Malley, Kim Janey, Josh Zakim, and Mark Ciommo.

Further, Boston City Councilor Kim Janey offered an Official Resolution of the City of Boston, signed by Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell, recognizing the centennial of the women arrested and jailed, and noting that until the adoption of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, women of color were blocked from ballot access, and that even today, women of color still face hurdles in exercising their right to vote. Makayla Parkin, Community Relations Coordinator, Office of City Councilor Kim Janey, read the proclamation at the event.

WSCC was pleased to welcome The Yellow Roses, a group of high school students who are indefatigable advocates for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), first proposed by suffragist Alice Paul in 1921. Thank you also to the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts for staffing a voter registration table at the event.

More about “I Want to Go to Jail”

“I Want to Go to Jail,” an original play by Pamela Swing, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Dabanka, Brandeis undergraduate (photo on right), transports you back to February 1919, when women suffragists grappled with unexpected obstacles in their quest for the final vote needed to pass the suffrage amendment. The suffragists were arrested for picketing President Wilson at the State House in Boston, and served time in the Charles Street Jail.

Interested in putting on this play, either as a staged reading or full performance? Go to https://iwanttogotojail.com/ for more information.

Download an event flyer.

Filed Under: Boston Protest of 1919, Events, Featured

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Copyright © 2023 · Women's Suffrage Celebration Coalition · Site by Tech-Tamer· Log in

Suffragists Support #StopAsianHate

March 2021

Dear Suffrage100MA Community,

Suffrage100MA stands with the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community and grieves for the eight victims recently murdered in Georgia, six of whom were women of Asian descent.  Carry the victims in your hearts, light candles for them, learn about their lives:  Daoyou Feng, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Paul Andre Michels, Soon Chung Park, Ziaojie Tan, Delaina Yaun and Young Ae Yue.

The words of this song from the 1949 musical “South Pacific” are more applicable than ever:

You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

“You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught” was a highly controversial song, but thankfully, ultimately included in the show. The song was written to address racism against Asians and all people.  The character Lt. Cable, a Caucasian man who has fallen in love with an Asian woman, is distressed by the prejudice against interracial couples and racism in general, sang the song after saying the words “…racism is not born in you! It happens after you’re born…”

James Taylor recorded the song in Nov. 2020.

We must work to end the racism that is “…drummed in your dear little ear…”

In 2020, hate crimes against Asian Americans are up almost 150 percent.  Discrimination against the Asian community has existed in this country since Asians arrived in the late 19th century.  Asians faced discrimination against dignity and equality, and were denied citizenship and the right to vote until the middle of the 20thcentury. After the 19th Amendment was adopted extending the vote to women, discriminatory laws prevented Asian Americans, Native Americans and African Americans from voting for decades and today the crisis for voter accessibility is growing.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “In a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election, and grounded in a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, legislators have introduced well over four times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to roughly this time last year. Thirty-three states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 165 restrictive bills this year (as compared to 35 such bills in fifteen states on February 3, 2020).”

Suffrage100MA is committed to increasing accessibility to the ballot and inspiring voters to exercise their right to vote by sharing the history of those who fought bravely, sometimes losing their lives, for decades and across centuries, to secure the vote.  Let us each recognize the power and importance of voting to express one’s voice

On behalf of the Suffrage100MA Board of Directors –
With deep appreciation to all of you for being on this journey with us,

Fredie Kay
Founder & President, Suffrage100MA