Ruza Wenclawska facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ruza Wenclawska
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Wenclawska in New York City, c.1916
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Ruza Wenclawska
December 15, 1889 |
| Died | 1977 (aged 87–88) |
| Nationality | Polish-American |
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| Spouse(s) | Philip Lyons |
Ruza Wenclawska (born December 15, 1889 – died 1977) was also known as Rose Winslow and later as Rose Lyons. She was a Polish-American woman who fought for women's right to vote, called a suffragist. She also worked to make factories safer and helped workers form unions.
Rose was a dedicated member of the National Woman's Party. Her main goal was to make sure women were treated fairly at work. She also had a creative side, working as an actress and a poet.
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Early Life and Work
Wenclawska was born in Suwałki, Poland. She moved to the United States with her parents when she was a baby. At just eleven years old, she started working in a factory in Pittsburgh. She made socks and other clothing items.
Her father worked as a miner, and her brother picked slate. Rose also worked in factories in Philadelphia. When she was nineteen, she became very sick with tuberculosis, a lung disease. She could not work for two years. During this time, she went to night school to continue her education. She also started working to help organize workers.
Fighting for Women's Rights
Rose Wenclawska worked as a factory inspector. She also helped organize workers' unions in New York City. She worked with groups like the National Consumers' League and the National Women's Trade Union League. By 1913, she also worked with the Woman’s Political Union. Later, she joined the National Woman's Party.
Rose became a great public speaker. She traveled across the country to speak at rallies for women's voting rights. She often spoke with Alice Paul, who founded the National Woman's Party. Rose believed that working-class women and men should be part of the movement. However, Alice Paul did not want to include men. She also did not focus on workers' rights in her plans.
In February 1914, Rose and Doris Stevens spoke at a large meeting for working women. They also helped organize a big parade. Working women marched to the White House to talk to President Woodrow Wilson about voting rights. Also in 1914, Rose and Lucy Burns led a campaign in California. They urged voters to vote against Democratic candidates who did not support women's suffrage. She did similar work in Wyoming in 1916.
During this time, Rose wrote a poem called "The 'New Freedom' for Women." It was published in The Suffragist magazine. In her poem, she compared President Wilson to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had fought to free slaves. Wilson, however, told women fighting for the vote, "You can afford to wait."
Protests and Prison
In 1917, Rose was part of the Silent Sentinels protests. These women stood silently outside the White House every day. On October 15, 1917, Rose was arrested. She was sentenced to seven months in jail. She was sent to the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia.
In jail, Rose and other protesters faced harsh treatment. Rose herself was held alone in a room for at least five weeks. Because of this unfair treatment, they started a hunger strike. They stopped eating to show that they were political prisoners, not criminals.
During this time, Rose secretly sent letters to her husband, Philip Lyons, and her friends. In one letter, she wrote, "I am waiting to see what happens when the President realizes that brutal bullying isn’t quite a statesmanlike method for settling a demand for justice at home...All the officers here know we are making this hunger strike that women fighting for liberty may be considered political prisoners; we have told them. God knows we don’t want other women ever to have to do this over again."
Eventually, all the women were released. Courts later ruled that their arrests were wrong. After more than two years of protests at the White House, Congress approved the 19th Amendment. This amendment gave women the right to vote. It was approved by the states in August 1920. Rose's work as an activist seems to have ended after her time in jail.
Life After Activism
Rose Wenclawska married Philip Lyons soon after she was released from prison. In 1920, they lived in Greenwich Village in New York City. She worked as an actress and performed in several plays. She even acted in a Broadway play called Desire Under the Elms in 1924. She used her maiden name, Ruza Wenclawska, for her acting roles.
Her exact death date was unclear for some time. However, the Library of Congress website, "Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party," states that she died in 1977. This is now believed to be her correct death year.
Legacy and Recognition
Doris Stevens published parts of Rose Wenclawska’s secret diary entries from her time in the Occoquan Workhouse. These were included in the book Jailed for Freedom (1920). This book tells the story of the brave suffragists between 1913 and 1919.
Rose was played by Vera Farmiga in the 2004 film Iron Jawed Angels. In the movie, her character represents all working-class women who helped the women's suffrage movement. Her important role in the movement is shown as smaller in the film than it was in real life. The movie suggests she joined the movement after Alice Paul told her that voting would help women speak up for safer workplaces. However, Rose was already an activist before meeting Alice Paul. She did much more than the film suggests.
In 2017, a book called Feminist Essays by Nancy Quinn Collins was published. It was dedicated to Ruza Wenclawska.
See also
In Spanish: Ruza Wenclawska para niños
