Biography
Sheila P. Ryan joined the first recorded sit-in inside the White House on March 11, 1965, demanding federal protection for voting-rights marchers after Bloody Sunday in Selma. After refusing repeated orders to leave, the demonstrators were arrested at about 6 p.m. and convicted of unlawful entry; the D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions in 1966.
Margie Stamberg reports that Free Press staffer Sheila Ryan was incarcerated in August 1967 to serve a six-month sentence for a 1965 White House sit-in protesting repression in Selma. Ryan’s own statement describes being dragged and kicked after refusing kitchen work on October 24 in solidarity with Pentagon demonstrators, and delayed examination until October 30. The article identifies actual admission by month and continued imprisonment, not a completed six-month term. Washington Free Press, November23,1967 vol2 no19, original PDF page 4. Source: https://washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/1967-11-23-wfp-vol-2-no-19.pdf#page=4
Photo credit
Arrested at White House Sit-In over Selma violence: 1965, Washington Area Spark Flickr archive. Portrait crop from the documentary photograph; used with permission.
Washington Free Press identified Ryan as serving a six-month sentence beginning in August 1967 in the D.C. Women’s House of Detention. It reported that work release was denied and published her account of abuse. Existing month-precision custody dates are preserved.
