Videos

IRON JAWED ANGELS

124 minutes, produced by HBO in 2004.

IRON JAWED ANGELS tells the story of a key chapter in U.S. history, the struggle of women who fought for the right to vote.

Up until the early twentieth century women had no voice in formulating laws, married women had no property rights, most occupations were closed to women and few women had the means to gain an education.

Getting the right to vote would provide the means to achieve other reforms for women.

IRON JAWED ANGELS focuses on two defiant women, Alice Paul and Luce Burns, showing how these activists broke from the mainstream women's rights movement and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries of political protest to secure women's voting rights in 1920.

Although Alice Paul and Lucy Burns come from different backgrounds and have very different personalities, they are united in their fierce devotion to women's suffrage. This is no easy fight in a country dominated by chauvinism. These young women clash with older, conservative women activists. They also battle public opinion in a tumultuous time of war, not to mention the most powerful men in the country, including President Woodrow Wilson.

The women are thrown in jail, with an ensuing hunger strike making headline news. The women's resistance to being force-fed earns them the nickname "The Iron Jawed Angels." However, it is truly their wills that are made of iron, and their courage inspires a nation and changes it forever.

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