Alice Stokes Paul
Alice Paul circa 1901
Born	January 11, 1885 Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Died	July 9, 1977
Occupation	Suffragist
Parents	William Mickle Paul I (1850-1902) Tacie Parry

Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American suffragist leader. Along with Lucy Burns (a close friend) and others, she led a successful campaign for women's suffrage that resulted in granting the right to vote to women in the U.S. federal election in 1920. Image File history File links AlicePaul_1901. ... is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Mount Laurel Township highlighted in Burlington County. ... is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Suffragette with banner, Washington DC, 1918 The title of suffragette was given to members of the womens suffrage movement in the United Kingdom and United States, particularly in the years prior to World War I. The name was the Womens Social and Political Union (founded in 1903). ... is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Suffragette with banner, Washington DC, 1918 The title of suffragette (also occasionally spelled suffraget) was given to members of the womens suffrage movement, originally in the United Kingdom. ... Lucy Burns (July 28, 1879-December 22, 1966) was an American suffragist and womens rights advocate. ... The term womens suffrage refers to an economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage — the right to vote — to women. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

Early years and education

Paul was born into a Quaker family at Paulsdale, her family farm in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.^[1] She was the first-born child of William Mickle Paul I (1850-1902), and Tacie Parry. William was a banker and businessman. He served as president of the Burlington County Trust Company. Alice had two brothers, William Mickle Paul II (1886-1958), Parry Haines Paul, and a sister, Helen Paul (1889-1961). ^[2] “Quaker” redirects here. ... Mount Laurel Township highlighted in Burlington County. ... “NJ” redirects here. ...

In 1901, she graduated first in her class from the Moorestown Friends School.^[2] She later attended Swarthmore College (BA, 1905), the New York School of Philanthropy (social work), and the University of Pennsylvania (MA, sociology). In 1907, Paul moved to England where she attended the University of Birmingham and the London School of Economics (LSE). Returning to the U.S. in 1910, she attended the University of Pennsylvania, completing a PhD in political science in 1912. Her dissertation topic was: The Legal Position of Women in Pennsylvania. In 1927, she received an LLM followed by a Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1928, both from American University's Washington College of Law.^[2] Year 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Moorestown Friends School (also known as MFS) is a private Quaker school located at East Main Street and Chester Avenue in Moorestown, New Jersey. ... Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,450 students. ... The New York School of Philanthropy was established in 1904. ... This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Website http://www. ... Mascot Beaver Affiliations University of London Russell Group EUA ACU CEMS APSIA Golden Triangle G5 Group Website http://www. ... Year 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Master of Laws is an advanced law degree that allows someone to specialize in a particular area of law. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other universities known as American University, see American University (disambiguation). ... The American University Washington College of Law (WCL) was founded in 1896 as the culmination of the pioneering efforts of two women, Ellen Spencer Mussey and Emma Gillett, who wished to open the field of law to women. ...

While she was in England in 1908, Paul heard Christabel Pankhurst speak at the University of Birmingham. Inspired, Paul joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), where she met fellow American Lucy Burns. Her activities with the WSPU led to her arrest and imprisonment three times. Along with other suffragists she went on a hunger strike and was force-fed.^[3] Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst DBE (September 22, 1880 – February 13, 1958) was a suffragette born in Manchester, England. ... The Womens Social and Political Union (WSPU) was the leading militant organisation campaigning for Womens suffrage in the United Kingdom. ... A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt or to achieve a goal such as a policy change. ...

NAWSA

In 1912, Alice Paul joined the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and was appointed Chairman of their Congressional Committee in Washington, DC.^[2] After months of fundraising and raising awareness for the cause, membership numbers went up and, in 1913, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage. Their focus was lobbying for a constitutional amendment to secure the right to vote for women. Such an amendment had originally been sought by suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1878. However, by the early 20th century, attempts to secure a federal amendment had ceased. The focus of the suffrage movement had turned to securing the vote on a state-by-state basis. The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was created in 1890, when two competing American womens suffrage advocacy groups united. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... An amendment is a change to the constitution of a nation or a state. ... Susan Brownell Anthony (February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was a prominent, independent and well-educated American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century womens rights movement to secure womens suffrage in the United States. ... Elizabeth Cady Stanton, (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902), was an American social activist and leading figure of the early womans movement . ...

Alice Paul

When their lobbying efforts proved fruitless, Paul and her colleagues formed the National Woman's Party (NWP) in 1916 and began introducing some of the methods used by the suffrage movement in Britain. Tactics included demonstrations, parades, mass meetings, picketing, suffrage watch, fires, and hunger strikes. These actions were accompanied by press coverage and the publication of the weekly Suffragist.^[2] Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... NWP members picket the White House in 1917, the banner reads Mr. ...

In the election of 1916, Paul and the NWP campaigned against the continuing refusal of President Woodrow Wilson and other incumbent Democrats to actively support the Suffrage Amendment. In January 1917, the NWP staged the first political protest ever to picket the White House. The picketers, known as "Silent Sentinels," held banners demanding the right to vote. This was an example of a non-violent civil disobedience campaign. In July 1917, picketers were arrested on charges of "obstructing traffic." Many, including Paul, were convicted and incarcerated at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia (later the Lorton Correctional Complex) and the District of Columbia Jail.^[2] Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856–February 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... Employees of the BBC form a picket line during a strike in May 2005. ... For other uses, see White House (disambiguation). ... Nonviolence (or non-violence) is a set of assumptions about morality, power and conflict that leads its proponents to reject the use of violence in efforts to attain social or political goals. ... For other uses, see Civil disobedience (disambiguation). ... ...

In protest of the conditions in Occoquan, Paul commenced a hunger strike. This led to her being moved to the prison’s psychiatric ward and force-fed. Other women joined the strike, which combined with the continuing demonstrations and attendant press coverage, kept the pressure on the Wilson administration.^[2] In January, 1918, the president announced that women's suffrage was urgently needed as a "war measure." Wilson strongly urged Congress to pass the legislation, which they did. In 1920, after coming down to one vote in the state of Tennessee, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution secured the vote for women.^[3] .]] Amendment XIX in the National Archives Amendment XIX (the Nineteenth Amendment) allowed women the right to vote under official constitutional protection. ...

Paul was the original author of a proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution in 1923.^[2] She opposed linking the ERA to abortion rights, as did most early feminists. It has been widely reported that Paul called abortion "the ultimate exploitation of women." There has been a suggestion that although she did not want the ERA to be linked with abortion, it was for political, rather than ideological or moral, reasons. An article in pro-choice publication The Touchstone (2000) provides the following commentary on the relationship between the ERA and her views on abortion: The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that was intended to guarantee equal rights under the law for Americans regardless of sex. ... Issues of discussion Pro-choice describes the political and ethical view that a woman should have complete control over her fertility and pregnancy. ...

Alice Paul did oppose the linkage between the ERA and abortion, but that was because of her political astuteness rather than any disagreement with abortion. Paul felt that by linking the ERA with abortion, the ERA would not pass through Congress. Willis wrote, "She did not address issues of birth control, i.e., abortion, or even women's sexuality, and was concerned that the radical women of the 1960s might alienate support by emphasizing these issues...[S]he said that even if women did want to do many things that she wished they would not do with their freedom, it was not her business to tell them what to do with it, but to see that they had it."[19] This demonstrates that Alice Paul supported equal rights for women, including the right to choose abortion...^[4]

This article however directly conflicts with a statement published by right-to-life activist Mary Meehan, from an interview with a colleague of Paul's: Right to life is a phrase that describes the belief that a human being has an essential right to live, particularly that a human being has the right not to be killed by another human being. ...

When I worked with Alice Paul [suffragist and leader of the National Woman's Party] I asked her about the abortion question - point blank. She said directly, "Abortion is just another way of exploiting women." Then she went on to explain that the National Woman's Party was organized for the benefit of women. Killing female babies was no way to benefit or protect women.^[5]

In 1929, she become the primary resident for 40 years of a house bought by Alva Belmont, located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., for the NWP headquarters. The house is now known as the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum and is a historic house and museum of the U.S. women's suffrage and equal-rights movements. Alva Erskine Belmont ( January 17, 1853 - January 26, 1933) was a multi-millionaire American socialite and a major funder of the womens suffrage movement. ... Map of Washington, D.C., with Capitol Hill highlighted in red Capitol Hill, aside from being the common nickname for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly behind the U.S. Capitol along wide avenues. ... For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ... The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., is a historic house and museum of the U.S. womens suffrage and equal-rights movements. ...

Alice Paul died on July 9, 1977 in Moorestown, New Jersey, near her family home of Paulsdale.^[6] is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Moorestown is a place located in Burlington County, New Jersey. ...

Legacy

In 2004, HBO Films broadcast "Iron Jawed Angels," chronicling the struggle of Alice Paul (portrayed by Hilary Swank) and other suffragists. In 2005, her alma mater, Swarthmore College, named its newest student dormitory in honor of Alice Paul after a donor agreed to select one of the top few student-provided suggestions. HBO Films is a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. ... Movie poster for Iron Jawed Angels Iron Jawed Angels is a highly acclaimed film about the American womens rights movement during the early 1900s produced by HBO Films. ... Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is a two-time Oscar winning American actress. ... A typical American college dorm room Another typical not-so-clean college dorm room Watterson Towers, Illinois State University Potomac Hall, second-largest dormitory at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. ...

Footnotes

is the 111th day of the year (112th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 203rd day of the year (204th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 203rd day of the year (204th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...

External links

• The Alice Paul Institute
• Alice Paul at Lakewood Public Library: Women In History
• The Sewall-Belmont House & Museum--Home of the historic National Woman's Party