“We want action,” Miss Branham stated simply, “not words.” She took the torch from Julia Emory, held the words of the President’s message of that afternoon in the flames. As it burned, she said:
The torch which I hold symbolizes the burning indignation of women who for a hundred years have been given words without action. In the spring our hopes were raised by words much like these from President Wilson, yet they were permitted to be followed by a filibuster against our Amendment on the part of the Democratic Senate leaders.
President Wilson still refuses any real support to the movement for the political freedom of women....
We, therefore, take these empty words, spoken by President Wilson this afternoon, and consign them to the flames.
Lucy Branham Burning the President’s Words at the Lafayette Monument.
Photo Copr. Harris and Ewing, Washington, D. C.
The Russian Envoy Banner, August, 1917.
Photo Copr. Harris and Ewing, Washington, D. C.
This is a symbol of the indignation of American women at the treatment given by the President to their plea for democracy.
We have protested to this Administration by banners; we have protested by speeches; we now protest by this symbolic act.