Basic Information

Edith Ainge, or Mary E. Ainge, was born in England in 1874 (Oaks, n.d.). Edith Angie is known for how active she was in protest in New York and DC. She was arrested five different times for protesting. She was also an important speaker for the injustice women were experiencing during their incarceration.  In October 1948, she died, and on her gravestone, it says “Suffrage Leader”(Oaks n.d.). 

Background Information

Ainge was born to her parents, William and Susan Ainge, and was the second oldest of nine children (Oaks, n.d.). Their family moved to America in the 1880’s and Ainge was fortunate to be able to go to school and completed all four years of high school (Oaks n.d.). She was single and never married (Oaks, n.d.). Since her father was an accountant, Ainge’s family belonged to the upper middle-class. Since Ainge had 4 brothers, seeing them exercise their rights helped lead her to fight for the rights of women.  Ainge’s main contribution occurred primarily during her 40’s. 

Contributions to the First Wave

Edith Angie was very involved with the First Wave Feminist Movement as national treasurer for the National Woman’s Party and a member of its National Council, but she is known most for how active of a protester she was. She was so committed to it she even states “suffragist” as her occupation on the 1920 U.S. Census (Oaks, n.d.). On September 4, 1917, the National Woman’s Party positioned themselves in pairs in front of the White House, Ainge and Eleanor Calnan were the first of the protest pairs to get arrested for “Unlawful Assembly” (Oaks, n.d.). The pair and 31 others were sentenced to sixty days in Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia, during which the conditions were so bad, it became known as “The Night of Terror” (Pruitt, 2019). These women were treated badly by guards and had to live in horrendous conditions at Occoquan, including worm-ridden food, filthy water, and disgusting bedding. Many of the women there were put in solitary confinements, including Ainge herself, others were physically harmed. Besides the sixty days she was at in Occoquan Workhouse, Ainge was also imprisoned for fifteen days in August 1918, and three shorter sentences in the District of Columbia city jail in January 1919 (Oaks, n.d.). Overall, she served five different sentences and totaling over 70 days.   

 In February and March of 1919, the National Woman’s Party organized a train tour, called the “Prison Special,” where they shared stories of their time in prison. They wanted to show that although they were protesting peacefully, they were locked up and treated as criminals. Most of the women were with Ainge and were locked up in Occoquan Workhouse. Ainge experience was important for understanding how horrendous the conditions were at Occoquan Workhouse; she said “she lost 23 pounds in 6 weeks” during her time locked up (Turning Point, 2019). Shortly after this in June 1919, the U.S. Senate followed the House’s lead in passing the 19th Amendment (Pruitt, 2019). After gaining the right to vote, Ainge continued to work for equal rights for women, she even helped write the proposal for an equal rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Oaks, n.d.).  

How long must woman be denied a voice in a government which is conscripting their sons.

– Edith Ainge and Eleanor Calnan (Turning Point, 2019)  

Analysis and Conclusion

Edith Ainge was important to women’s suffrage because she protested and shared her experiences with the public. She was just one of the faces in the crowd of suffragist but her presence and participation helped get their ideas out to the public. Because of her and the other women who created the “Prisoner special”, their stories were shared with the public. After hearing these stories from these women, many people started to shift in their ideas of women. These women protested peacefully but were treated as criminals. Ainge used her own body as a tool, through protest and got arrested 5 times for it. This is a great tactic because people could see that she was just another woman but she had all the experiences that showed the injustice that was happening to her and others like her. Even to this day, people use the tactic of protesting and getting arrested as a tool.  

References

National Photo Co, W. (1921) Miss Edith Ainge, of Jamestown, New York, the first delegate to the convention of the National Woman’s Party to arrive at Woman’s Party headquarters in Washington, Miss Ainge is holding the New York state banner which will be carried by New York’s delegation of 68 women at the conven. New York, 1921. [Feb] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mnwp000072/. 

Oaks, J. & Oneonta, S. U. N. Y. (n.d.). Biographical Sketch of Edith M. Ainge. Retrieved  October 21, 2019, from https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1009755084. 

Pruitt, S. (2019, March 4). The Night of Terror: When Suffragists Were Imprisoned and Tortured in 1917. Retrieved October 28, 2019, from https://www.history.com/news/night-terror-brutality-suffragists-19th-amendment. 

Turning Point. Edith Ainge. (2019, July 9). Retrieved October 28, 2019, from https://suffragistmemorial.org/edith-ainge/.