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Emmeline Pankhurst in prison

60 second histories

 This video covers:  The time Emmeline spent in prison and its effect upon her.

When I arrived at Holloway prison I was separated from the others who had been arrested with me and I was given a medical examination. I was then ordered out of my clothes and given some frightful undergarments; old, patched and stained. There were some course brown woollen stockings with red stripes and the hideous prison dress which was stamped all over with the broad arrow of disgrace. I managed to find some odd shoes that fitted and was then given a sheet, a towel, a mug of cold cocoa and a thick slice of brown bread and was taken to my cell. The conditions in prison were awful; there was meagre food and vermin as well as the civilised torture of solitary confinement and absolute silence. In June nineteen o nine I struck a police officer twice in the face to ensure I went to prison and I became a frequent visitor. I saw prison as a means to publicise the urgency of women’s suffrage. I told authorities, we are here not because we are lawbreakers; we are here in our efforts to become lawmakers.
Eras: 
20th Century
Suffragette Movement
Victorian
Topics: 
Key people
Suffragette Movement
Character: 
Emmeline Pankhurst
Key words: 
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