Inez Milholland who is also referred to as "the woman on the horse," did not want to go to cross country speaking tour because she knew she was ill and feared that she could not make it. She was able to change her mind after encouragement by Paul. She decided to risk her life and not allow her infirmity keep her from protesting how her stance on women's rights. She however dies after collapsing when she was speaking. This is peculiar to the women of Iron Jawed Angels that set them apart from the women of their times.
The women suffragists had a unique method of demonstrating so as to create change. Several methods were introduced by the Iron Jawed Angels of which are similar to those ones of women suffragists in Britain. They involved parades, demonstrations, picketing, hunger strikes and mass meetings of which were used along with high press coverage. They picketed the White House clamoring for the right of the women to vote. They continued with this form of non-violence protest even after the onset of the First World War while facing assaults from the crowds who accused them of barricading the sidewalks. All the principals of mass action through nonviolent means were being applied by the women suffragists where violence was met with peacefulness; creating enormous publicity; applying economic or political pressure and use of arguments which was had an impact on the conscience of their adversaries and the general public. The suffrage issue was kept at the forefront of the national consciousness by the militant's campaign and this can be considered as an important factor for the change of position by President Wilson and the eventual 19th Amendment passage.
This form of protesting was necessary because of its unique nature...
Also since the authorities were powerful compared to the women suffragists, use of violence wouldn't have yielded much as they would have been subjugated easily. Therefore other methods wouldn't have been as effective.
Conclusion
Alice Paul and the women of the 1918 women's suffrage movement fight for the future generations' right to vote and further a right to run for office. Sacrificing their health, marriages and the limited amount of freedom they initially had; women were imprisoned and force fed after picketing and hunger-striking against war-time president, Woodrow Wilson; but survived to see the results of their efforts (summary for iron jawed angels, 2004).
This is a stunning story unfortunately tatted up for modern audiences, infused with modern informalities, fictional romances and wildly incongruous post-feminist empowerment pop. In other words, Iron jawed angels can be described as an important lesson of history that is told in a fresh and moreover blazing fashion.
Reference
Elizabeth, S. (2004). Review of the iron jawed angels. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.elizabethskipper.com/m/iron_jawed_angels/
Garnier, K. (Producer), (2004). Iron Jawed Angels. [Motion picture]. United States: HBO
Films.
Rotten Tomatoes. (2004). Iron jawed angels (2004). Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/iron_jawed_angels/
Plot summary for iron jawed angels (2004). Retrieved September 11, 2010 from, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338139/plotsummary
