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Primary sourceSpeech1913

Freedom or Death

Emmeline Pankhurst · 1913

Emmeline Pankhurst's 1913 speech delivered in Hartford, Connecticut, laying out her defence of militant suffrage tactics.

Pankhurst's own words, delivered by her, giving her fullest personal defence of militant suffrage tactics.

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About this source

What it is

This is the text of a speech given by Emmeline Pankhurst in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1913, during one of her American speaking tours. In it she compares the suffragettes' campaign to a civil war and defends the use of militant tactics.

Why it matters

The speech is considered the fullest statement of Pankhurst's case for militancy. She presents herself not as an advocate asking for reform but as a soldier explaining a war already being fought by women in Britain. It shows how she used international tours to raise funds and sympathy for the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and to justify arrests and imprisonments she had suffered.

Look closer

  • Why does Pankhurst compare herself to a soldier rather than a campaigner?
  • What does she mean by saying the law has judged her "of no value to the community"?
  • Why might she have chosen to make this argument to an American audience rather than a British one?

This speech is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Emmeline Pankhurst on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Emmeline Pankhurst · 1914

Black and white photograph of a woman in a dark hat and long dark coat being carried or hustled along a street by a uniformed police officer in a peaked cap, while a man in a bowler hat walks beside her. Other men in suits and top hats are behind them.Photograph

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Emmeline Pankhurst Arrested, 1914

Unknown author · 22 May 1914

Front page of the Votes for Women supplement, dated October 10, 1907, with a large banner title, editors' names, a notice box, and an illustration of a giant seated woman over London's Parliament and Big Ben.Newspaper article

Primary source

Votes for Women

Frederick Pethick-Lawrence and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence · 10 October 1907

Black-and-white photograph of a woman in a dark feathered hat and dark coat standing in an open car, gesturing with one hand, surrounded by a dense crowd of men in hats. A flag is partly visible at lower left.Photograph

Primary source

Emmeline Pankhurst Addresses a Crowd in New York City

Topical Press Agency · 1913

Oil painting of an elderly woman with short curled grey hair, wearing a dark dress with a fur-trimmed brown and orange wrap, a blue and gold enamel pendant on a dark cord, and a ring on her hand. Soft brown background.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Emmeline Pankhurst by Georgina Brackenbury

Georgina Agnes Brackenbury · c. 1927

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