Alice Paul Biography

Civil Rights Activist, Women's Rights Activist (18851977)

QUICK FACTS

NAME
Alice Paul
OCCUPATION
Civil Rights Activist, Women's Rights Activist
BIRTH DATE
January 11, 1885
DEATH DATE
July 9, 1977
EDUCATION
University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, University of Birmingham
PLACE OF BIRTH
Moorestown, New Jersey
PLACE OF DEATH
Moorestown, New Jersey
AKA
Alice Paul
FULL NAME
Alice Stokes Paul
SYNOPSIS
EARLY LIFE AND SCHOOLING
ACTIVIST FOR WOMEN'S RIGHT TO VOTE
PUSHING FOR AN EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT

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Suffragist Alice Paul dedicated her life's work to women's rights and was a key
figure in the push for the 19th Amendment.

Synopsis

Born on January 11, 1885, in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, Alice Paul grew up with a
Quaker background and attended Swarthmore College before living in England
and pushing for women's voting rights. When she returned to America in 1910,
she became a leader in the suffragist movement, eventually forming the
National Woman's Party with Lucy Burns and becoming a key figure in the
voices that led to the passage of the 19th Amendment. In later years she
advocated for the passage of an Equal Rights Amendment as well. She died in
Moorestown on July 9, 1977.

Early Life and Schooling

Alice Paul was born on January 11, 1885, in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, attending
school in nearby Moorestown. Influenced by her Quaker family, she studied at
Swarthmore College in 1905 and went on to do graduate work in New York City
and England.

While in London from 1906 to 1909, Paul became politically active and unafraid
to use dramatic tactics in support of a cause. She joined the women's suffrage
movement in Britain and was arrested on several occasions, serving time in jail
and going on a hunger strike.

Activist for Women's Right to Vote

When she returned to the United States in 1910, Paul became involved in the
womens suffrage movement there as well. Driven also to change other laws
that affected women, she earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in
1912.

At first, Paul was a member of the National American Woman Suffrage

Association and served as the chair of its congressional committee. Out of
frustration with NAWSA's policies, however, Paul left to form the more militant
Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage with Lucy Burns. The group was later
renamed the National Woman's Party with the goal of implementing change on
a federal level.

Known for using provocative visual media to make their point, NWP members
known as the "Silent Sentinels" picketed the White House under the Woodrow
Wilson administration in 1917, making them the first group to take such action.
Paul was jailed in October and November of that year as a result of the
protests.

Pushing for an Equal Rights Amendment

After women won the right to vote with the 19th Amendment in 1920, Paul
devoted herself to working on additional empowerment measures. In 1923, she
introduced the first Equal Rights Amendment in Congress and in later decades
worked on a civil rights bill and fair employment practices. Although she did not
live to see the ERA added to the U.S. Constitution (to date it remains
unratified), she did get an equal rights affirmation included in the preamble to
the United Nations charter.

Until she was debilitated by a stroke in 1974, Alice Paul continued her fight for
womens rights. She died on July 9, 1977, in Moorestown.