Iron Jawed Angels

Though I had learned about the woman's movement for voting rights, I had never heard about it from this context. This was a truly powerful movie about perseverance despite opposition. These women have changed the world and began a movement that still continues today in the fight for equal rights.

What surprised me the most about this film was seeing the reaction of the government and public to the movement. There was resistance as I expected, but I did not realize that the government worked hard to suppress the movement and portray it in a negative way. When the women continued to demonstrate outside the White House even during the war, this showed great strength and determination. However, the government switched this image around and called their demonstrations treason. They came up with any kind of excuse to imprison the women and even tried to get Alice Paul institutionalized for life. I was horrified and moved by the actions they took to silence the women. One of the most disturbing scenes for me was when they were force feeding Alice. Despite the extreme pain she went through she continued to stay strong and continue her hunger strike. She was an amazing source of inspiration to all of the other women who were part of the movement (and especially those who were jailed like she was).

I really enjoyed learning about the movement from the perspective of those on the inside and learning about Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. I feel like these women are not recognized enough for their accomplishments and it was eye-opening for me to learn about them in this way.