Alice Paul

Alice Paul fought for political freedom, and didn’t worry about who she offended in the process. Paul was born in New Jersey in1885. She first became interested in women’s suffrage as a graduate student in England.

She came back to the United States in 1910 and turned her attention to winning votes for women in America. She organized large demonstrations and parades. She published leaflets, and held daily pickets in front of the White House. She burned copies of President Woodrow Wilson’s speeches, calling them “meaningless words” on democracy. She even burned an effigy of Wilson at the White House gates. In 1917 she and many others were arrested for peacefully marching. While in jail, she began a hunger strike and was force-fed by prison authorities.

Paul’s actions alienated some who believed the women’s suffragists were becoming too militant. On the other hand, those who were arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights to speak, publish, peaceably assemble, and petition won the public’s sympathy. The President ordered them released from prison. He also soon lent his support to women’s suffrage. Congress approved the Nineteenth Amendment within a year and it was ratified by the states in 1920.