Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

People

Location

3 Main St, Grafton, VT 05146, USA

Lat/Long

43.173451, -72.610475

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

Born in 1858, Lucy J.C Daniels was a suffragist who supported women’s right to vote. Throughout her career as an activist, Daniels promoted women’s suffrage through a number of means. She was jailed in Washington, D.C. for her involvement in a picketing campaign outside the White House. Along with her participation in protests, Daniels once refused to pay property taxes on the grounds that she was denied a say in how her taxes were spent. This marker commemorates the house where Daniels lived, once writing on a prominent wall visible to those passing: “A Square Deal Votes for Vermont Women.”

As early as 1903 Daniels attended the National Equal suffrage convention as a delegate from the Vermont Association. She would remain a vocal advocate in the decades to follow. In its November 18^th, 1911 edition, The Woman’s Journal said of Daniel’s refusal to pay taxes:

Last summer Miss Daniels gave notice to the Town Clerk that, as she was denied a voice in the spending of the municipal monies, and as the local representative in the State Legislature had voted against the measure that would have given her this privilege, she would no longer continue to pay her taxes.

Following a demonstration in front of the White House in November 1917, Daniels was among thirty-one suffragists who were sentenced to serve jail time varying from six days to six months in the District of Columbia workhouse. Daniels was sentenced to fifteen day for her role as one of the National Woman’s Party’s Silent Sentinels. In the aftermath, she authored an article titled, “In Defense of the White House Picketing.” The article argued that picketing was necessary to draw attention to the issue of women’s suffrage.

Daniels passed away in 1849 and is buried Grafton Village Cemetery.