Oliver and Company Page #2

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They'll keep us out of the polling place

any way they can...

- Other colored groups have agreed.

- Not perfect, but practical.

Dress up prejudice and call it politics?

I expected more from a Quaker.

I'll march with my peers or not at all.

I understand.

How are you, ma'am?

Doris Stevens,

National Woman Suffrage Association.

We need volunteers.

If you have an hour to spare?

No, I can't, not today.

- Or if you'd like to make a contribution...

- No, thank you.

- Watch out, sweetheart. Hot soup.

- Jenny!

How are you, ma'am?

I'm Doris Stevens,

National Woman Suffrage Association.

We need volunteers.

If you have an hour to spare?

I'm sorry, I can't.

Or if you'd like to make a pledge.

Another time, perhaps.

Come along, Jenny. Mind the wet.

Jenny, come on, take my hand.

How are you, ma'am?

Doris Stevens,

National Woman Suffrage Association.

We're going to solicit donations.

Let's look like we need them.

I could tell you were from Wyoming.

That's my favorite state.

They gave women the vote from the get-go.

What a beautiful dog you're wearing.

Didn't we meet at Mrs. Bellwood's lunch?

I'm Doris Stevens,

National Woman Suffrage Association.

...by the politicians, by the newspapers.

It's very important to raise awareness...

- Sen. Leighton, good to see you.

- Good to see you.

Good evening, Senator.

- Hi, John. Nice to see you.

- Senator.

Beautiful, isn't it? I'm sorry, I'm Lucy Burns.

Emily Leighton.

Gosh.

I'm actually part of NAWSA's

Congressional Committee.

National American Woman

Suffrage Association.

We're giving a parade.

Have you heard about our parade?

I really don't follow politics, Miss Burns.

I haven't the head for it.

We're citizens or we're chattel.

You don't really need a degree from Harvard

to figure that out.

Would you excuse us?

Sen. Leighton, it's very...

nice to meet you.

Muller vs. Oregon, 1908.

Judge rules in favor

of shorter working hours for women...

then goes on record saying

healthy mothers serve the public interest.

That was a victory.

And as you're a labor lawyer, are you not?

Those women were being exploited.

Sure, now they're being patronized.

We're not brood mares.

Labor law with a sexual bias

will come back and bite us in the ass.

The issue isn't opportunity, it's protection.

Women need protection.

We all need protection.

But when women complain,

people call it hysteria...

and rush to fetch the doctor.

As long as women accept protective law,

they can't expect equality.

They need full citizenship.

Ben Weissman.

Alice Paul.

Inez Milholland.

I'm hungry. Have you eaten?

A stout old maid with facial hair,

Carry Nation waving her axe...

is what people think of

when you say "suffragist."

So NAWSA fights it

with Madonna and Child?

Women who nurture the family,

rock the baby...

serve the dinner, serve society.

- Serving, serving, serving.

- Always.

But the new suffragist is single,

young, independent...

- Educated.

...and very, very beautiful.

She's you.

On a horse.

A cowgirl?

- A warrior.

- A herald.

Joan of Arc with 10,000 women

following her down Pennsylvania Avenue.

An ideal woman

who can lead us up the mountain.

- Or off a cliff.

- No.

Something like this?

You could do this for a living.

- You think so?

- He does.

What's the name of that miserable rag

you work for? The Washington Post.

- That's exactly what I want.

- Have dinner with me tomorrow.

When I do business with men,

we have dinner.

Don't you want equal treatment?

- I'm having dinner with Helen Keller.

- Don't stare, she hates that.

Have lunch with me.

I'd like to meet

some Washington Post reporters.

- After lunch.

- Before.

- Don't you trust me?

- I don't know you.

Would you like to?

Negro men have been voting

since the Civil War.

You think the ballot's changed his life?

It's a cash-and-carry country.

What will the vote buy you?

- Self-respect, for starters.

- I vote and I have no self-respect.

What do you think women are going to do

when they vote? Reform politics?

Because we're morally superior?

That's a nice fairy tale.

I don't have any illusions about women.

There's good and bad, just like men.

I don't know what they're going to do

with their vote, and I don't care.

- Prohibition? Legalize birth control?

- It doesn't matter.

- That's not the point.

- What's the point?

We're legitimate citizens.

We're taxed without representation...

we're not allowed to serve on juries,

so we're not tried by our peers.

It's unconscionable,

not to mention unconstitutional.

We don't make the laws,

but we have to obey them, like children.

You know the Suffrage Amendment

has only once been voted on in the Senate?

But we've got nine states now.

That's four million women voters,

which means one-fifth of the House...

one-sixth of the Senate,

and one-seventh of the electoral votes...

come from suffrage states.

You want to know

what women can buy with that?

Were you the smartest girl in your class?

No. In the whole school.

Would you be talking to me

if I didn't work for The Washington Post?

No.

Have lunch with me, Alice Paul.

This desk was Susan B. Anthony's.

From the old headquarters.

It was in storage.

It's haunted.

Did you kiss him?

Because if you don't want him, I'll take him.

Listen.

Ask her how we'll get the amendment

on the floor.

What does she say?

She says:

"Just do it."

Hey, girls! Over here!

Get over here, come on!

Get off the streets, go home to your mother!

My mother is here!

If you was my wife, I'd bash your head in!

Welcome, Mr. President!

Welcome, sir.

Welcome to Washington, Mr. President...

- Why, thank you, Commissioner Stevenson.

- Right this way.

I thought there would be a big crowd.

Where is everybody?

Hey, you he-shes!

Get off the streets and go home,

you hussies!

- You want to be a man?

- Who wears the pants in your family?

What you got under your skirt?

Go back home!

Mom!

Officer!

Officer! Over here!

When's the last time

suffrage was on the front page?

"Nation aroused by open insults to women.

"Cause wins popular sympathy."

Another photograph of you,

warrior princess...

above the fold, thank you.

Alice, you were right about the wings.

"Even those who are opposed

to giving women the vote...

"must now admit that the movement

is no ephemeral thing."

The Evening Star blames the D.C. Police.

- So does The Post.

- My feet hurt.

We got lucky.

A hundred people in the hospital.

You call that lucky, Miss Paul?

She means the extra publicity.

Look, Anna...

The police were negligent.

The Post is calling for an investigation.

Wilson's a gentleman from the South.

I don't see how he can deny

a delegation of women...

especially when they were practically

molested at his doorstep.

- A delegation?

- Before the bruises fade.

Before he addresses Congress.

He's the President of the United States,

Miss Paul.

You don't exactly go calling on him

as though he were the missus next door.

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