Fairfax County, Virginia, is the site of possibly the most significant moment in the fight for women’s suffrage in the United States.
 

In 1917, more than 120 suffragists were imprisoned in the Occoquan Workhouse, then part of the Lorton Prison complex, in retaliation for picketing the Woodrow Wilson White House for the right to vote. The reports of inhumane conditions, beatings and force-feeding at the workhouse electrified the country and became the “turning point” in the struggle for the 19th Amendment. 

The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Committee is working with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA) to raise funds to erect a suffragist memorial to commemorate the struggle of these women and educate future generations.

The launch of the first phase is 2010 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment:

Section 1: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. 

Section 2: Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.  

Ratified August 19, 1920

Help us pay tribute to the suffragists.

Suffragist of the Month

July  -  Lillian Ascough

Lillian Ascough of Detroit, Mich., served as the Connecticut State Chairman of the National Womens Party.  She studied for the concert stage in London and Paris. But she abandoned the concert stage to devote time to suffrage. She was sentenced to fifteen days in jail in August of 1918, following a Lafayette Square demonstration, and sentenced to five days in February of 1919,  following a watchfire demonstration. She was a speaker in the "Prison Special" tour of Feb-Mar 1919.

Learn more about our featured suffragists of the month.

This is the historical marker identifying the original site of the Occoquan Workhouse in Lorton, Va. According to The Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, this marker was the first to recognize civil or women's rights. Championed by the League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area, it was initially erected in 1982 in celebration of the first national Women's History Week. It now stands at the entrance of the Griffith Water Treatment Plant that occupies the former workhouse site.

The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial will be located across the street in Occoquan Regional Park.

Learn more about the history of the suffragist movment.