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Jailed For Freedom, written by suffragist Doris Stevens, is a first hand account of the battle for women's suffrage. Stevens dedicated the book to Alice Paul, a fellow suffragist and leader of the National Women's Party (NWP). Doris Stevens was born in 1888 in Omaha, Nebraska to a pastor father and an immigrant mother from Holland. She attended Omaha Highschool and later Oberlin College. At Oberlin College she became involved in women’s suffrage and became actively involved in advocating for women’s legal rights. After graduating, she moved to Washington D.C. and joined NAWSA as a regional organizer.

The book specifically recounts the story of the first real, militant political action for the suffragist cause, and functions definitive list of all the women who were imprisoned as a result of the suffragist movement. Jailed for Freedom discusses how women picketing the White House were jailed and depicts the political and social tensions of that time. Stevens shares accounts of beatings, police brutality, and cruelty faced by women protesters, as well as the injustice faced by women in prison for standing up for their rights. Stevens was an organizer and a devout participant in the Silent Sentinels, protests which began in January 1917 outside of the White House, urging president Woodrow Wilson to pass the 19th Amendment. It was during these peaceful protests that Stevens and other suffragist women were arrested and jailed for their involvement. The book has three parts. Part 1 is titled Leadership and illustrates the work of Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul. Part 2 is titled Political Action and talks about women organizing to protest the capital and President Woodrow Wilson to gain the right of suffrage. Part 3 is titled Militancy and talks about the violent, cruel backlash these militant women faced from authorities and in jail. It highlights the fight these women gave the capitol and how they finally succeeded in passing the 19th Amendment. In addition to social changes and elements of the suffragist movement, Stevens also addresses the politics of the suffragist issue.