Introduction

Suffragists, including a woman wearing a Washington College of Law sash (third from left), picket outside the White House.Â These "Silent Sentinels" picketed for six days a week from January 1917 until the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in June 1919.Â The protest was organized by Alice Paul, who would later earn degrees from both American University and the Washington College of Law.

An Activist Tradition: AU and WCL's Founding Women

Throughout the nineteenth century, women worked to carve out a space for themselves as political actors.Â Â Driven by their ideals, they founded institutions such as American University and the Washington College of Law to shape the world according to their principles.

This site, in conjunction with the Humanities Truck exhibit of the same name, seeks to share some of the documents available in theÂ American University ArchivesÂ and the Washington College of Law Archives that tell these women's stories.

Use the links in the sidebar to the right to navigate through the site.