Structure and Style in The Smithsonian's History of America in 101 Objects
Question 4 • CA-English Language Arts 12 B – 1744
Read the excerpt from Suffragists' "Great Demand" Banner.On October 20, Alice Paul was arrested and sentenced to seven months in jail. She and her companions were held in solitary confinement and denied counsel. Paul went on a hunger strike and was violently force-fed. Authorities confined her to a psychiatric ward in an effort to discredit her. On November 14, thirty women in the Workhouse Prison were beaten, threatened, and mistreated in what came to be known as the Night of Terror. The subsequent storm of critical publicity was such that the administration itself soon called for the release of all suffragist prisoners.
Answer
A
Women were beaten in the Workhouse Prison because they refused to eat or to stay in solitary confinement.
B
Critical reports in the newspaper caused prison workers to mistreat women in the Workhouse Prison.
C
The negative press that followed the abuse of suffragist prisoners forced officials to release all suffragists from prison.
D
After her release from prison, Alice Paul went on a hunger strike that forced authorities to place her in a psychiatric ward.
Explanation
The excerpt says the women were beaten and mistreated in prison, and that the resulting “storm of critical publicity” was followed by the administration calling for the release of all suffragist prisoners. This supports choice C: negative publicity about the abuse led officials to call for their release. The excerpt does not say newspaper reports caused the abuse, or that Alice Paul went on hunger strike after her release.
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