Biographical Database of Militant Woman Suffragists, 1913-1920
Biography of Martha Foley, 1897-1977
By Laura Koch, Simmons University and Thomas Dublin
There is an excellent biographical sketch for Martha Foley in Notable American Women, but the sketch does not relate Foley's commitment to woman suffrage. Foley wrote a memoir, The Story of Story Magazine, that was published in 1980, after her death.
That account describes how Foley got involved in picketing President Wilson when he visited Boston on his return from the Versailles Peace Conference. She had been volunteering in the Boston office of the Socialist Party when someone from the National Woman's Party came to recruit picketers to protest Wilson's speaking engagement. Foley was one of the 22 who joined the demonstration. When they refused to leave following police orders, they were arrested for "loitering and sauntering" and were taken to the Charles Street police station. The next morning their cases were heard and the demonstrators all refused to participate in their hearings and were sentenced to a $5 fine or "eight days in jail." Following another day in jail, the protestors were released, well before the end of their eight-day sentence.
Sources:
Martha Foley, The Story of Story Magazine: A Memoir of Martha Foley, Jay Neugeboren, ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1980), pp. 32-35.
Doris Stevens, Jailed for Freedom (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1920), p. 359.