Radical

Are you a "radical"? Do you fear or flee that term, along with "progressive", "liberal" or "out of the mainstream". Many people react negatively to those terms. But a lot of things we hold dear today came about because of those who bore those labels and were not afraid. A hundred years ago if you believed in and campaigned for civil rights and equality for people of color, you were considered radical. If you advocated for worker's rights to a safer workplace, to collectively bargain for better working hours regulation, or compensation for injuries on the job, you were considered radical.And if you challenged the status quo treatment of women and believed that women should have an equal place in society - including the right to vote - you were considered very radical.

Women , and some men, had been advocating for the right of women to vote for decades during and after the Civil War and into the 1900's. Women were dismissed, derided, abused both physical and emotionally for having the "nerve" to think they should be treated as equals. Even when some other countries had given women the vote the US was resistant. Even though President Wilson said he believed the vote should be there in the states, he resisted the idea of a constitutional amendment to make it a national right.

In 1917 women began picketing the White House to pressure him to support women's right to vote.From January to August over 1000 women joined in the protests, 218 were arrested , charged with "obstructing the sidewalk". They were accused, after the April 6th entry of the US into WWI, of being unpatriotic. It came to a head on August 28th when 10 suffragists were arrested and sent to jails in Virginia and DC and were subject to inhumane cell conditions and mistreatment by prison guards.Some went on hungry strikes to protest the conditions but were force-fed.

Thinks like this had been happening for years, but this time word got out about their mistreatment and public opinion turned. The public outcry led to Wilson's eventual support of the 19th amendment in January of 1918 and the amendment was ratified August 18, 1920, giving women the right to vote.
All because of "radicals" who believed in a cause enough to put their lives and health on the line to advocate for it and were not afraid to be called "radical"

So ....don't flinch from doing what is right, just because someone might consider you "radical"