Virginia Museum Honors Suffragists

The Lucy Burns Museum in Lorton, Virginia, which is named for a leading suffragist, opened in January, just months before the August centennial of the 19th Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote. 

The museum is on the site of the 55-acre Workhouse Prison, which operated from 1910 until it was turned into an artists’ complex in 2001. In 1917, suffragists who had been arrested after picketing at the White House were jailed here for up to seven months, beaten, and force-fed. Many years later, the prison housed Watergate mastermind G. Gordon Liddy, as well as Norman Mailer and Noam Chomsky, who faced charges relating to their Vietnam War protests.

The 11,000-square-foot museum tells the story of the prison. It includes cellblocks, art and farming equipment made by inmates, and a log that lists imprisoned suffragists and the crimes with which they were charged.

Note: Because of the pandemic, the museum is currently open only on Saturday afternoons and with COVID restrictions in place.