Chicago Mob Attacks Suffragists While Police Do Nothing

During the 1916 presidential campaign, the Congressional Union and its recently formed National Woman’s Party of Western Voters appealed to women voters to oppose Woodrow Wilson and all Democratic congressional candidates for failing to pass a suffrage amendment. On October 19, 1916, a mob suddenly attacked this racially diverse group of NWP protesters outside the International Amphitheatre in Chicago where Wilson was speaking. Participant Josephine Pearce told the New York Times she “saw policemen deliberately stand nearby and laugh at us while we were being beaten and the banners torn from our hands.”