Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Cohen made many physical actions of protest against the British government. Cohen stood up for what she believed in by taking action and this can be seen repeatedly in history. In 1909, she joined the Leeds Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Emmeline Pankhurst founded this organization in 1903. The group intrigued Cohen because they believed in direct action to create change for women. Later in her life, Cohen was a personal bodyguard to Mrs. Pankhurst, which allowed her to physically defend someone who spoke up for women’s right to vote.
In 1911, Cohen joined in a protest where she took further action against the government. At the protest, she threw a rock at a government-building window and was promptly arrested and placed in Holloway Prison for seven days. Spending time behind bars had the opposite effect on Cohen as it just increased her passion to fight for her right to vote. Even though found guilty, she defended herself in court and the authorities released her. As Cohen began to take more bold steps as a suffragist, her family supported her suffrage allegiance but her friends did not. Cohen received hate letters and her son faced persecution at school. In 1913, Cohen took action against the government during a protest by using an iron bar to smash a glass showcase in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. Cohen was arrested a second time but again, she decided to make a stand by going on a hunger strike rather than speaking out in anger. Because of the Cat and Mouse Act, Cohen was released from prison after a few days to allow her to recover from self-induced starvation. Her deliberate act of rebellion was taken against the government and she chose to take physical action to show her displeasure with the government.
By 1923, Cohen became the first woman president of the Yorkshire Federation of Trades Councils. She was on the Council for 25 years and by the mid -1920s she was awarded an OBE for services to public life. Cohen’s political action and rebellious deeds during protests did not go unnoticed.
Read more about this topic: Leonora Cohen
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