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{{Short description|American suffragist (1868 - 1950)}}
{{Infobox Person | name =Elizabeth Selden Rogers | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name =Elizabeth Selden White | birth_date = {{Birth date|1868|7|23}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1950|12|18|1868|7|23}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | residence = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = | title = | salary = | networth = | height = | weight = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | religion = | spouse =[[John Rogers]] (1865-1939)| partner = | children =Elizabeth Selden Rogers | parents = | relatives =Mabel Wellington White, sister<br>[[Amos Beebe Eaton]]<br>[[Roger Sherman]], 2ndgreatgrandfather | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}
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{{Other people|Elizabeth Rogers}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Elizabeth Selden Rogers
| image = Elizabeth Selden Rogers.jpg
| caption = Elizabeth Selden Rogers, right, marches in a suffragette parade with Miss Brannan, left, ca. 1912.
| birth_name = Elizabeth Selden White
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1868|7|23}}
| birth_place = [[Astoria, Queens]], New York, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1950|12|18|1868|7|23}}
| death_place = [[New York City]], US
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| known_for =
| education =
| employer =
| occupation =
| title =
| height =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| boards =
| spouse = {{marriage|John Rogers (1866-1939)|1895}}
| partner =
| children = 3
| parents =
| relatives = [[Amos Beebe Eaton]] grandfather <br>[[Roger Sherman]], 2nd great grandfather
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}


⚫
'''Elizabeth Selden White Rogers''' (July 23, 1868 &ndash; December 18, 1950) was a civic reformer who worked to improve the New York public schools, and to win [[Women's suffrage in the United States|suffrage for women]] in the state of New York and the nation.
⚫
{{otherpersons|Elizabeth Rogers}}
⚫
'''Elizabeth Selden White Rogers''' (born [[July 23]], [[1868]] - [[December 18]], [[1950]]) was the wife of a prominent thyroid specialist John Rogers, and was the great-great-granddaughter of [[Roger Sherman]]. She was a civic reformer working to improve the New York public schools, and to also win suffrage for women in the state of New York first and later joining the national suffrage movement.


==Suffrage writing==
==Biography==
One of Rogers' major roles in the suffrage movement was to write articles in various newspapers calling for woman suffrage. In one issue of the [[The San Francisco Call|San Francisco Call and Post]] in 1911, Rogers stated that "An attack on woman suffrage is an attack on democracy."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rogers |first=Elizabeth |date=October 1, 1911 |title=Opponents of Equal Vote for Men and Women Lack Faith in Democracy |url=https://basic.newspapers.com/image/82718304/?match=1&terms=Elizabeth%20Selden%20Rogers |work=[[The San Francisco Call and Post]] |pages=47}}</ref>
She was chairman of the Advisory Council of the [[National Woman's Party]], and was one of the most forceful speakers in the "Prison Special" bus tour across the country; during which suffragists spoke of their experience in jail. Rogers was arrested on [[July 14]], [[1917]] for picketing in front of the United States [[White House]], and was sentenced to sixty days in [[Occoquan Workhouse]] in [[Virginia]]; but she was quickly pardoned by US President [[Woodrow Wilson]] after just three days.


In May 1912, Rogers helped lead a parade to fight for woman suffrage in the state of [[New York (state)|New York]]. "The wonderful procession clearly showed that women will win the vote in New York, and very soon, too" she wrote in the [[New-York Tribune]]. "The majority of the women of New York were not marching, but that fifteen thousand women of all kinds were sufficiently interested in Votes for Women to march for this principle of justice is proof that the movement is of such a force that it is bound to win."<ref name=nyt>{{Cite news |last=Rogers |first=Elizabeth |date=May 6, 1912 |title=SAYS VOTE WILL SOON BE WON IN NEW YORK |url=https://basic.newspapers.com/image/467713918/?match=1&terms=Elizabeth%20Selden%20Rogers |work=[[New-York Tribune]] |pages=1}}</ref> She expressed her admiration for the strength and dedication of the women involved, as she wrote:<blockquote>As I marched on Saturday and felt that behind me was line after line and thousands upon thousands of women, all joined by their love of liberty and belief in equality of human rights and opportunities, it seemed to me that never was the outlook brighter for the welfare of humanity. For it simply mean that the best, most intelligent and sweetest of New York women were bravely showing their eagerness to help make the world a better place to live in, so that all little children may have a better chance of growing up good and happy and strong.<ref name=nyt/></blockquote>Rogers worked with [[Alice Paul]], founder of the [[National Woman's Party]], to establish suffrage groups under the name [[Women's Political Union]].<ref name=hamlethub>{{Cite web |title=Remembering Elizabeth Selden Rogers, One of Putnam County’s Leading Suffragists Who Arrested at the White House |url=https://news.hamlethub.com/brewster-new-york/13442-remembering-elizabeth-selden-rogers-one-of-putnam-county-s-leading-suffragists-who-arrested-at-the-white-house |access-date=2024-05-12 |website=HamletHub}}</ref> In 1915, Rogers toured with Oxford-educated suffrage speaker [[Eleanor Brennan|Eleanor Brannan]]. In Putnam, they met with [[Edith Diehl]], [[Marjorie Addis]], [[Antoinette Hopkins]], [[Helena Fish]], [[Kate deForest Crane]], and many more.<ref name=hamlethub/>
⚫
Elizabeth Selden Rogers, editorial entitled "Why We Withdrew," in Women's Political World, 1915

⚫
The following is an excerpt from Elizabeth Selden Rogers's editorial, "Why We Withdrew," published in ''Women's Political World'' in 1915:
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
A great deal is said of the value of co-operation of all societies and the economy of not duplicating work. While believing heartily in a certain amount and kind of co-operation, we are not blind to the fact that too complete unity may result. in stagnation ... The [Women's Political) Union believes that the existence of many suffrage societies is an evidence of the vitality of the movement, and that the friendly rivalry of such societies results in more and better work being done, that it gives the freedom necessary to growth, affording scope for individuality, and allowing personality to count. ... To those of our members who are worrying over this co-operate (sic) idea, we would point out that if in the past four or five years the Women's Political Union in New York City had been bound by a two-thirds vote of a campaign committee, like the one now formed, we would never have had a parade, or an outdoor meeting, or a campaign against certain enemies in the Legislature.
A great deal is said of the value of co-operation of all societies and the economy of not duplicating work. While believing heartily in a certain amount and kind of co-operation, we are not blind to the fact that too complete unity may result. in stagnation ... The [Women's Political) Union believes that the existence of many suffrage societies is an evidence of the vitality of the movement, and that the friendly rivalry of such societies results in more and better work being done, that it gives the freedom necessary to growth, affording scope for individuality, and allowing personality to count. ... To those of our members who are worrying over this co-operate (sic) idea, we would point out that if in the past four or five years the Women's Political Union in New York City had been bound by a two-thirds vote of a campaign committee, like the one now formed, we would never have had a parade, or an outdoor meeting, or a campaign against certain enemies in the Legislature.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rogers|first1=Elizabeth Selden|title=Why We Withdrew|work=Women's Political World|date=15 November 1913}}</ref>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>


== Suffrage Protests and Arrest ==
She was also the sister of Mabel Wellington White, the wife of US Secretary of War [[Henry L. Stimson]], she was also the maternal granddaughter of Union Major General [[Amos Beebe Eaton]].
Rogers helped the Congressional Committee, which later became the National Woman's Party, organize a parade in Washington the day before President [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s inauguration, with the hope of making a statement to Wilson and instigating negotiation with the President and Congress. Alice Paul, the leader of the Committee, sought Rogers' support. The two appealed to Rogers' brother-in-law, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, to ask that he assign military personnel to help keep order. Stimson could take little action due to his position, but he was sympathetic to the movement and ordered the Fifteenth Cavalry from Fort Myer, Maryland, to bivouac on the western perimeter of Washington to help protect the suffragists.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lunardini |first=Christine |title=From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights |publisher=toExcel |year=1986 |isbn=0-595-00055-X |pages=25-29}}</ref>


On July 14, 1917, the French holiday of [[Bastille Day]], sixteen [[Silent Sentinels]], including Rogers,<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 17, 1917 |title=Pickets to Serve Occoquan Terms |url=https://basic.newspapers.com/image/332098048/?match=1&terms=Elizabeth%20Selden%20Rogers |archive-url= |work=[[Evening Star (newspaper)|Evening Star]] |pages=2}}</ref> picketed the [[White House]], carrying a banner with the French motto "[[Liberty, Equality, Fraternity]]". All sixteen were arrested, tried, and sentenced to sixty days in the [[Occoquan Workhouse]] in [[Virginia]] for unlawful assemblage.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 15, 1917 |title=16 SUFFS ARRESTED IN POLITEST WAY! |url=https://basic.newspapers.com/image/88276248/?match=1&terms=Elizabeth%20Selden%20Rogers |work=[[The Sun (New York City)|The Sun]] |pages=5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Stevens |first=Doris |title=Jailed for Freedom |publisher=NewSage Press |isbn=0-939165-25-2 |pages=79-81}}</ref> In her defense, Rogers stated:<blockquote>We are not guilty of any offense. We know full well that we stand here because the President of the United States refuses to give liberty to American women....<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lunardini |first=Christine |title=From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights |publisher=toExcel |year=1986 |isbn=0-595-00055-X |pages=118}}</ref> The President puts his power behind all measures in which he takes a genuine interest. If he will say one frank word advocating this measure it will pass as a piece of war emergency legislation.<ref name=dorisstevens>{{Cite book |last=Stevens |first=Doris |title=Jailed for Freedom |publisher=NewSage Press |year=1920 |isbn=0-939165-25-2 |pages=80}}</ref></blockquote>Following the arrests, Rogers and fellow suffragist [[Eunice Dana Brannan]] sent a telegraph to The Sun newspaper, which read:<blockquote>We were arrested to-day for carrying an appeal to the White House. The guilt lies with those who deny justice, not with those who demand justice. In all this question the country should blame the President for failing to secure the passage of the Federal Woman Suffrage amendment and should uphold women who are fighting for American ideals of government.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 15, 1917 |title=SUFFS TELL OF ARREST |url=https://basic.newspapers.com/image/88276248/?match=1&terms=Elizabeth%20Selden%20Rogers |work=[[The Sun (New York City)|The Sun]] |pages=5}}</ref></blockquote>President Wilson was under pressure to pardon the suffragists, and did so after just a few days.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Remembering Elizabeth Selden Rogers, One of Putnam County’s Leading Suffragists Who Arrested at the White House |url=https://news.hamlethub.com/brewster-new-york/13442-remembering-elizabeth-selden-rogers-one-of-putnam-county-s-leading-suffragists-who-arrested-at-the-white-house |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=HamletHub}}</ref> Although [[Woodrow Wilson|President Woodrow Wilson]] had displayed public support for an amendment granting woman suffrage, many in Congress did not take it seriously. On December 16, 1918, with Wilson in France to attend the Peace Conference to end [[World War I]], hundreds of women marched through Washington, carrying lighted torches and purple, white, and gold banners. A crowd watched as they set fire to all of Wilson's speeches and books concerning "liberty," freedom," and "democracy" in an urn. Rogers, chairman of the National Advisory Council of the [[National Woman's Party]] and its legislative chairman for New York, spoke to the crowd:<blockquote>We hold this meeting to protest against the denial of liberty to American women. All over the world today we see surging and sweeping irresistibly on, the great tide of democracy, and women would be derelict in their duty if they did not see to it that it brings freedom to the women of this land.... Our ceremony today is planned to call attention to the fact that President Wilson has gone abroad to establish democracy in foreign lands when he has failed to establish democracy at home. We burn his words on liberty today, not in malice or anger, but in a spirit of reverence for truth. This meeting is a message to President Wilson. We expect an answer. If the answer is more words we will burn them again. The only answer the National Woman's Party will accept is the instant passage of the amendment in the Senate.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stevens |first=Doris |title=Jailed for Freedom |publisher=NewSage Press |year=1920 |isbn=0-939165-25-2 |pages=158-159}}</ref></blockquote>
She married [[John Rogers]](1865-1939) in 1895, he was later the at [[Cornell Medical School]].<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Obituary |url= |quote=Rogers - On Sunday, November 19, [1939] at his home, John Ropers, M.D., in the seventy-fourth year of his age, beloved husband of Elizabeth Selden (White) Rogers. ... |publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=[[November 21]], [[1939]] |accessdate=2008-07-04 }}</ref> Together, they had a daughter Elizabeth Selden Rogers who married [[Francis H. Horan]].<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Elizabeth S. Rogers Will be Bride Today. She and Fiance, Francis Horan, Are Members of United States Attorney's Office. |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30F12FE3A5A107A93CBA91789D85F418385F9 |quote=Miss Elizabeth Selden Rogers, an assistant to [[Martin Conboy]], United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York, and [[Francis H. Horan]], ... |publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=[[February 9]], [[1935]] |accessdate=2008-07-04 }}</ref>


== Prison Special ==
She died on [[December 18]], [[1950]].<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Obituary|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30F12FE3A5A107A93CBA91789D85F418385F9 |quote=Mrs. Elizabeth Selden White Rogers, a leader in the fight for woman suffrage, who was the widow of Dr. John Rogers, former Professor of Clinical ...|publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=[[December 18]], [[1950]] |accessdate=2008-07-04 }}</ref>
In the spring of 1919, Rogers participated in the [[Prison Special|Suffrage "Prison Special" Tour]], in which 26 women, all of whom had been arrested for picketing the White House in support of women's suffrage, organized a train tour to share their stories as political prisoners in the [[Occoquan Workhouse]] and D.C. jails. Their slogan was "From Prison to People" and they called their train the "Democracy Limited."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The National Woman's Party: Chapter 4: Victory! - Mapping American Social Movements Project |url=https://depts.washington.edu/moves/NWP_project_ch4.shtml |access-date=2024-05-12 |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref> The suffragists traveled to 15 major cities in the United States, including many in the more conservative South, believing that Southern support was the key to passing a suffrage Amendment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Democracy Limited: The Prison Special (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/democracy-limited-the-prison-special.htm |access-date=2024-05-12 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref> The women, including Rogers, wore replicas of their prison uniforms, gave speeches, and fundraised. A ''[[The Suffragist|Suffragist]]'' article about the Prison Special described how their audiences in the West had “become a path of people freshly awakened to the deep importance of immediate national action.”<ref>{{Cite web |title=The National Woman's Party: Chapter 4: Victory! - Mapping American Social Movements Project |url=https://depts.washington.edu/moves/NWP_project_ch4.shtml#_edn15 |access-date=2024-05-12 |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref>
==Early life and education==
Rogers was born on July 23, 1868, in [[Astoria, Queens]], New York. Her sister was Mabel Wellington White, wife of US Secretary of War [[Henry L. Stimson]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lunardini |first=Christine |title=From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights |publisher=toExcel |year=1986 |isbn=0-595-00055-X |pages=29}}</ref> She was also the maternal granddaughter of Union Major General [[Amos Beebe Eaton]] and a descendant of [[Roger Sherman]], one of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States]] and signers of the Declaration of Independence.<ref name=dorisstevens/>


==References==
==Personal life==
She married John Rogers (1866-1939)<ref>{{Cite web |title=AncestryClassroom |url=https://www.ancestryclassroom.com/login |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=www.ancestryclassroom.com}}</ref> in 1895. He was later a Professor of Clinical Surgery at the [[Cornell Medical School]].<ref name="obit1">{{cite news |date=December 19, 1950 |title=Obituary |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/12/19/87189400.html?pageNumber=29 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> They had a daughter, Elizabeth Selden Rogers, who married Francis H. Horan, and had two sons.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1935-02-09 |title=ELIZABETH S. ROGERS WILL BE BRIDE TODAY; She and Fiance, Francis Horan, Are Members of United States Attorney's Office. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/02/09/archives/elizabeth-s-rogers-will-be-bride-today-she-and-fiance-francis-horan.html |access-date=2019-05-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
{{reflist}}


Her grandfather General Eaton was the son of Amos Eaton and Sally Cady Eaton, and was the first cousin of [[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]]. She was also the great-niece of [[Henry R. Selden]], who defended [[Susan B. Anthony]] when she was arrested for voting in the 1872 national election. Henry was the brother of her grandmother and namesake Elizabeth Selden Eaton.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Henry R. Selden; Western New York Suffragists |url=https://rrlc.org/winningthevote/biographies/henry-r-selden/}}</ref>
==Further reading==

*Doris Stevens, Jailed for Freedom (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1920), 367.
The Rogers' lived in Putnam County, New York. They also owned a summer home in Towners, New York, known as "Freedom Farm."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Remembering Elizabeth Selden Rogers, One of Putnam County’s Leading Suffragists Who Arrested at the White House |url=https://news.hamlethub.com/brewster-new-york/13442-remembering-elizabeth-selden-rogers-one-of-putnam-county-s-leading-suffragists-who-arrested-at-the-white-house |access-date=2024-05-21 |website=HamletHub}}</ref> She died on December 18, 1950, in [[New York City]].<ref name="obit2">{{cite news |title=Obituary|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/12/19/archives/obituary-1-no-title.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 18, 1950 |access-date=2008-07-04 }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Women's suffrage]]
*[[Women's rights]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*[http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft0g500376&doc.view=content&chunk.id=d0e7558&toc.depth=1&anchor.id=0&brand=eschol Nationality Rights in International Perspective]
*[http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft0g500376&doc.view=content&chunk.id=d0e7558&toc.depth=1&anchor.id=0&brand=eschol Nationality Rights in International Perspective]
*[https://www.loc.gov/resource/ggbain.18912/ Mrs. John Rogers Jr. -- at suffrage shop - Library of Congress]
*[https://feminist.org/news/october-6-1911-as-california-suffrage-vote-nears-activists-remain-positive/ October 6, 1911: As California Suffrage Vote Nears, Activists Remain Positive]

{{Silent Sentinels}}
{{Suffrage|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Elizabeth Selden}}
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[[Category:American women's rights activists]]
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[[Category:American feminists]]
[[Category:Suffragists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:National Woman's Party activists]]

[[Category:People from New Haven, Connecticut]]
[[Category:1868 births]]


[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:Baldwin, Evarts, Hoar & Sherman family|Rogers, Elizabeth Selden]]
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[[Category:1868 births|Rogers, Elizabeth Selden]]
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[[Category:American women's rights activists|Rogers, Elizabeth Selden]]
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[[Category:American feminists|Rogers, Elizabeth Selden]]
[[Category:American suffragists|Rogers, Elizabeth Selden]]

Latest revision as of 11:01, 5 June 2024

For other people named Elizabeth Rogers, see Elizabeth Rogers (disambiguation).
Elizabeth Selden Rogers
Elizabeth Selden Rogers, right, marches in a suffragette parade with Miss Brannan, left, ca. 1912.
Born
Elizabeth Selden White

(1868-07-23)July 23, 1868
Astoria, Queens, New York, US
DiedDecember 18, 1950(1950-12-18) (aged 82)
New York City, US
Spouse
John Rogers (1866-1939)
​
​
(m. 1895)​
Children3
RelativesAmos Beebe Eaton grandfather
Roger Sherman, 2nd great grandfather

Elizabeth Selden White Rogers (July 23, 1868 – December 18, 1950) was a civic reformer who worked to improve the New York public schools, and to win suffrage for women in the state of New York and the nation.

Suffrage writing

[edit]

One of Rogers' major roles in the suffrage movement was to write articles in various newspapers calling for woman suffrage. In one issue of the San Francisco Call and Post in 1911, Rogers stated that "An attack on woman suffrage is an attack on democracy."[1]

In May 1912, Rogers helped lead a parade to fight for woman suffrage in the state of New York. "The wonderful procession clearly showed that women will win the vote in New York, and very soon, too" she wrote in the New-York Tribune. "The majority of the women of New York were not marching, but that fifteen thousand women of all kinds were sufficiently interested in Votes for Women to march for this principle of justice is proof that the movement is of such a force that it is bound to win."[2] She expressed her admiration for the strength and dedication of the women involved, as she wrote:

As I marched on Saturday and felt that behind me was line after line and thousands upon thousands of women, all joined by their love of liberty and belief in equality of human rights and opportunities, it seemed to me that never was the outlook brighter for the welfare of humanity. For it simply mean that the best, most intelligent and sweetest of New York women were bravely showing their eagerness to help make the world a better place to live in, so that all little children may have a better chance of growing up good and happy and strong.[2]

Rogers worked with Alice Paul, founder of the National Woman's Party, to establish suffrage groups under the name Women's Political Union.[3] In 1915, Rogers toured with Oxford-educated suffrage speaker Eleanor Brannan. In Putnam, they met with Edith Diehl, Marjorie Addis, Antoinette Hopkins, Helena Fish, Kate deForest Crane, and many more.[3]

The following is an excerpt from Elizabeth Selden Rogers's editorial, "Why We Withdrew," published in Women's Political World in 1915:

A great deal is said of the value of co-operation of all societies and the economy of not duplicating work. While believing heartily in a certain amount and kind of co-operation, we are not blind to the fact that too complete unity may result. in stagnation ... The [Women's Political) Union believes that the existence of many suffrage societies is an evidence of the vitality of the movement, and that the friendly rivalry of such societies results in more and better work being done, that it gives the freedom necessary to growth, affording scope for individuality, and allowing personality to count. ... To those of our members who are worrying over this co-operate (sic) idea, we would point out that if in the past four or five years the Women's Political Union in New York City had been bound by a two-thirds vote of a campaign committee, like the one now formed, we would never have had a parade, or an outdoor meeting, or a campaign against certain enemies in the Legislature.[4]

Suffrage Protests and Arrest

[edit]

Rogers helped the Congressional Committee, which later became the National Woman's Party, organize a parade in Washington the day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, with the hope of making a statement to Wilson and instigating negotiation with the President and Congress. Alice Paul, the leader of the Committee, sought Rogers' support. The two appealed to Rogers' brother-in-law, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, to ask that he assign military personnel to help keep order. Stimson could take little action due to his position, but he was sympathetic to the movement and ordered the Fifteenth Cavalry from Fort Myer, Maryland, to bivouac on the western perimeter of Washington to help protect the suffragists.[5]

On July 14, 1917, the French holiday of Bastille Day, sixteen Silent Sentinels, including Rogers,[6] picketed the White House, carrying a banner with the French motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity". All sixteen were arrested, tried, and sentenced to sixty days in the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia for unlawful assemblage.[7][8] In her defense, Rogers stated:

We are not guilty of any offense. We know full well that we stand here because the President of the United States refuses to give liberty to American women....[9] The President puts his power behind all measures in which he takes a genuine interest. If he will say one frank word advocating this measure it will pass as a piece of war emergency legislation.[10]

Following the arrests, Rogers and fellow suffragist Eunice Dana Brannan sent a telegraph to The Sun newspaper, which read:

We were arrested to-day for carrying an appeal to the White House. The guilt lies with those who deny justice, not with those who demand justice. In all this question the country should blame the President for failing to secure the passage of the Federal Woman Suffrage amendment and should uphold women who are fighting for American ideals of government.[11]

President Wilson was under pressure to pardon the suffragists, and did so after just a few days.[12] Although President Woodrow Wilson had displayed public support for an amendment granting woman suffrage, many in Congress did not take it seriously. On December 16, 1918, with Wilson in France to attend the Peace Conference to end World War I, hundreds of women marched through Washington, carrying lighted torches and purple, white, and gold banners. A crowd watched as they set fire to all of Wilson's speeches and books concerning "liberty," freedom," and "democracy" in an urn. Rogers, chairman of the National Advisory Council of the National Woman's Party and its legislative chairman for New York, spoke to the crowd:

We hold this meeting to protest against the denial of liberty to American women. All over the world today we see surging and sweeping irresistibly on, the great tide of democracy, and women would be derelict in their duty if they did not see to it that it brings freedom to the women of this land.... Our ceremony today is planned to call attention to the fact that President Wilson has gone abroad to establish democracy in foreign lands when he has failed to establish democracy at home. We burn his words on liberty today, not in malice or anger, but in a spirit of reverence for truth. This meeting is a message to President Wilson. We expect an answer. If the answer is more words we will burn them again. The only answer the National Woman's Party will accept is the instant passage of the amendment in the Senate.[13]

Prison Special

[edit]

In the spring of 1919, Rogers participated in the Suffrage "Prison Special" Tour, in which 26 women, all of whom had been arrested for picketing the White House in support of women's suffrage, organized a train tour to share their stories as political prisoners in the Occoquan Workhouse and D.C. jails. Their slogan was "From Prison to People" and they called their train the "Democracy Limited."[14] The suffragists traveled to 15 major cities in the United States, including many in the more conservative South, believing that Southern support was the key to passing a suffrage Amendment.[15] The women, including Rogers, wore replicas of their prison uniforms, gave speeches, and fundraised. A Suffragist article about the Prison Special described how their audiences in the West had “become a path of people freshly awakened to the deep importance of immediate national action.”[16]

Early life and education

[edit]

Rogers was born on July 23, 1868, in Astoria, Queens, New York. Her sister was Mabel Wellington White, wife of US Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.[17] She was also the maternal granddaughter of Union Major General Amos Beebe Eaton and a descendant of Roger Sherman, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and signers of the Declaration of Independence.[10]

Personal life

[edit]

She married John Rogers (1866-1939)[18] in 1895. He was later a Professor of Clinical Surgery at the Cornell Medical School.[19] They had a daughter, Elizabeth Selden Rogers, who married Francis H. Horan, and had two sons.[20]

Her grandfather General Eaton was the son of Amos Eaton and Sally Cady Eaton, and was the first cousin of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was also the great-niece of Henry R. Selden, who defended Susan B. Anthony when she was arrested for voting in the 1872 national election. Henry was the brother of her grandmother and namesake Elizabeth Selden Eaton.[21]

The Rogers' lived in Putnam County, New York. They also owned a summer home in Towners, New York, known as "Freedom Farm."[22] She died on December 18, 1950, in New York City.[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Rogers, Elizabeth (October 1, 1911). "Opponents of Equal Vote for Men and Women Lack Faith in Democracy". The San Francisco Call and Post. p. 47.
  2. ^ a b Rogers, Elizabeth (May 6, 1912). "SAYS VOTE WILL SOON BE WON IN NEW YORK". New-York Tribune. p. 1.
  3. ^ a b "Remembering Elizabeth Selden Rogers, One of Putnam County's Leading Suffragists Who Arrested at the White House". HamletHub. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  4. ^ Rogers, Elizabeth Selden (15 November 1913). "Why We Withdrew". Women's Political World.
  5. ^ Lunardini, Christine (1986). From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights. toExcel. pp. 25–29. ISBN 0-595-00055-X.
  6. ^ "Pickets to Serve Occoquan Terms". Evening Star. July 17, 1917. p. 2.
  7. ^ "16 SUFFS ARRESTED IN POLITEST WAY!". The Sun. July 15, 1917. p. 5.
  8. ^ Stevens, Doris. Jailed for Freedom. NewSage Press. pp. 79–81. ISBN 0-939165-25-2.
  9. ^ Lunardini, Christine (1986). From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights. toExcel. p. 118. ISBN 0-595-00055-X.
  10. ^ a b Stevens, Doris (1920). Jailed for Freedom. NewSage Press. p. 80. ISBN 0-939165-25-2.
  11. ^ "SUFFS TELL OF ARREST". The Sun. July 15, 1917. p. 5.
  12. ^ "Remembering Elizabeth Selden Rogers, One of Putnam County's Leading Suffragists Who Arrested at the White House". HamletHub. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
  13. ^ Stevens, Doris (1920). Jailed for Freedom. NewSage Press. pp. 158–159. ISBN 0-939165-25-2.
  14. ^ "The National Woman's Party: Chapter 4: Victory! - Mapping American Social Movements Project". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  15. ^ "Democracy Limited: The Prison Special (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  16. ^ "The National Woman's Party: Chapter 4: Victory! - Mapping American Social Movements Project". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  17. ^ Lunardini, Christine (1986). From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights. toExcel. p. 29. ISBN 0-595-00055-X.
  18. ^ "AncestryClassroom". www.ancestryclassroom.com. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  19. ^ "Obituary". The New York Times. December 19, 1950.
  20. ^ "ELIZABETH S. ROGERS WILL BE BRIDE TODAY; She and Fiance, Francis Horan, Are Members of United States Attorney's Office". The New York Times. 1935-02-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  21. ^ "Henry R. Selden; Western New York Suffragists".
  22. ^ "Remembering Elizabeth Selden Rogers, One of Putnam County's Leading Suffragists Who Arrested at the White House". HamletHub. Retrieved 2024-05-21.
  23. ^ "Obituary". The New York Times. December 18, 1950. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
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