The beautiful Occoquan Regional Park in Fairfax County, Virginia, covers an area that was once a section of the old Occoquan Workhouse and Reformatory, also known as the District of Columbia Workhouse or Lorton Prison. It was built in 1910 and was used until 2001.
Its greatest claim to infamy is its role as the location where 72 women suffragists were imprisoned in 1917 for picketing in front of the White House to demand the right to vote for women. They were sentenced to a month of hard labor at the Occoquan Workhouse. When the imprisoned women engaged in a hunger strike, prison officials force fed them, beat them, and put some in solitary confinement. News of the mistreatment finally shamed President Woodrow Wilson and the Congress into supporting the right to vote for women and the eventual ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 18, 1920.
The stone pictured here is along a trail in the park and is near the site that the women were imprisoned. It presents a silent reminder of the sacrifice of those courageous women for the benefit of all future generations of American women. The trail is pictured here: http://365project.org/khawbecker/past-and-presen/2014-08-10
Interesting information and beautiful pic. Great lighting, although the stone is backlit, it is very present, and this lighting matches well with the meaning of the stone.
Nice comp and light in this picture. I love the texture of the stone. The bit of history which goes with it is very interesting as well as rather horrifying. I believe similar things were done to the suffragists in the U.K.
You would be a fantastic history teacher!