User:Capejoani/new sandbox

Personal Life

In 1880, Alison Low Turnbull was born in Morristown, New Jersey, to Lt. Commander Frank Turnbull, a retired naval officer, and his wife, the former, Marion Louise Bates, a descendant of William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony. The couple had three children, Alison being the oldest. She was raised on the family estate, "Feather Leigh Farms," and was educated by private tutors. She left Feather Leigh Farms after her marriage to John Appleton Haven Hopkins, a New York insurance executive, 1901, returning in 1908, with her husband and children, to make the estate their family home. The couple had three children, all born in New York City -- John Milton (b. 1903), Marion Louise (b. 1904), and Douglas (1908).

During her marriage she was active in a number of civic and charitable organizations. She served as president of the Summer Shelter of Morristown, an organization that brought poor children out of the heat of New York City to Morristown, for a few weeks at a time, during the summer months. She was a member of the executive committee of the Morris County branch of the State Charities Aid Society and on the board of managers of the Speedwell Society, which placed convalescent children in foster homes for care and recuperation. Locally, she was a member of the Executive Committee of the Womens Town Improvement Committee, chair of the Ladies House Committee of the Morristown Field Club, a member of the Whipping River and Morristown Garden Clubs, and a member of the Morris County Corn Growing and Industrial Contests, which established educational initiatives in schools to promote industrial work in schools, as a way to help encourage children to stay in school. These initiatives developed school gardens and corn growing contests, later expanding to flower and vegetable gardens.

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Activism

Alison Turnbull Hopkins was on the executive board of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrageand was New Jersey state chair for the National Woman's Party.

On July 14, 1917, sixteen women, including Hopkins, paraded in front of the White House,with a was part of a group of suffrage protesters arrested at the White House.She was sentenced to jail at Occoquan Workhouse, but she was pardoned after three days by Woodrow Wilson, at the request of her husband.She returned to her White House protest after this incident, displaying signs that read "We ask not pardon for ourselves but justice for all American women"and "Mr. President How long must women wait for liberty."Having spent any time at all in Occoquan Workhouse was a matter of pride among American suffragists; Mrs. Hopkins posed in her prison garb for publicity photos, lectured on the experience, and received honors as an imprisoned picket for several years after the event.

Julia Hurlbut holding banner protesting her pardon and release from Occuquan Workhouse.

Women picketing in front of the White House on Bastille Day, July 14, 1917. All sixteen were arrested and three days later were sentenced to Occuquan Workhouse. On July 19th, they were pardoned by President Woodrow Wilson.

On July 14, 1917, sixteen women, including Hopkins, paraded in front of the White House, with a new banner designed in commemoration of the anniversary of Bastille Day, which stated, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, July 14, 1789." The women were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly and obstructing traffic. On July 17, all sixteen were sentenced to 60 days in the Occoquan Workhouse, where they were made to dress in prison uniforms and were jailed with other prisoners. After visiting his wife and observing the deplorable conditions within the jail, John A. H.. Hopkins complained to Wilson, who subsequently signed a pardon for the women. They were released after spending three days of their sentence.

Suffragists used the pardon to help advance their cause stating that they had not asked for it and did not feel they should be pardoned, as they were not guilty of any crime. The morning following her release, Hopkins returned to the White House gates alone, carrying a banner which said "We do not ask pardon for ourselves, but justice for all American women." She also wrote a letter to Wilson, stating that, by pardoning her, he had denied her the right to appeal her arrest. She also accused him of signing the pardon in order to prevent any political embarrassment. Copies of this letter were distributed to members of the press. Alison Turnbull Hopkins was not arrested again.

{credit both Alice Paul... and Past and Promise }

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Alison Turnbull Hopkins was a member of Heterodoxy, a women's debating club based in New York City.

In 1914, she became active in the suffrage movement, stating that, due to her civic and charitable work, she had realized that women would need political power in order to achieve reform. She was elected to the executive committee of the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage and later became the New Jersey state chair for the National Woman's Party.

In 1915, she actively campaigned to pass referendums on woman suffrage to state constitutions in both New Jersey and New York, a referendum which Woodrow Wilson, then a Democrat in New Jersey, supported. The referendum was defeated in both states, as well as in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. At this point, suffragists decided to work together to focus on the passage of a federal amendment. Wilson, however, in his bid for presidential reelection in 1916, did not support a suffrage amendment.

John A. H. Hopkins, previously a member of the Progressive Party, supported Wilson in his bid for reelection and headed the reelection campaign in the state of New Jersey, while his wife, a Woman's Party leader, actively campaigned against the president. Among her notable political stunts was a speaking tour through Illinois in a car bearing the slogan "Don't Vote for Wilson," following William Jennings Bryanon his lecture tour.

In 1916, Hopkins became the president of the New Jersey branch of the Congressional Union (NJCU). The Congressional Union merged with the Woman's Party to form the the National Women's Party and in January, 1917, the NJCU became the New Jersey branch of the National Women's Party. Also in early 1917, the suffragists had begun picketing in front of the White House, calling themselves the Silent Sentinel.

In early March, suffragists, including Hopkins, paraded to the White House, in an attempt to speak to Wilson, with the intent to obtain his support for a federal amendment. When they arrived there, they found the gates locked and the White House grounds were surrounded by police. Hopkins and six other women remained at the front gate, while the remainder of the group paraded around the grounds. Finally, Wilson, accompanied by his wife, rode through the gate in his limousine; but he did not acknowledge their presence and the suffragists returned to the NWP headquarters.

At first, the Sentinels were ignored and then tolerated; but after the United States entered World War I, animosity toward the protests increased, at times becoming violent. In late June, during a visit of Russian diplomats, Lucy Burns and Mrs Lawrence Lewis stood at the White House gates, carrying signs addressed "To the Russian Envoys..." The sign then stated that, as American women were being denied their rights, America was not a democracy. The chief of police approached the two women and told them that if the pickets did not stop, the women would be arrested. Since the suffragists had already been assured by lawyers that picketing was not illegal, the protests continued. Over the next few days, the arrests began; women were charged with obstructing traffic and taken to the police station. There, they were dismissed on their own recognizance, but were never brought to trial. After several days, the authorities saw that this was not stopping the demonstrations and on June 26, 1917, six women were tried, found guilty and sentenced to a $25 fine or three days in jail. Since they felt that by paying a fine they would be admitting guilt, the six women -- Katherine Morey, Anne Ariel, Mabel Vernon, Lavinia Dorn, Maud Jamieson, and Virginia Arnold -- all were imprisoned for three days.

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Later Life[edit]

After suffrage was won, Alison Turnbull Hopkins opened a dress shop in New York City, called Marjane Ltd.. The Hopkinses divorced in 1927. Alison Turnbull Hopkins died in 1951, age 70. Her niece was socialite Marjorie Oelrichs.