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Alice Paul:
Feminist, Suffragist and Political
Strategist
continued
National Woman's Party,
Picketing and Prison
Although both Carrie Chapman Catt, NAWSA
president, and Alice Paul shared the goal of universal suffrage, their political
strategies could not have been more different or incompatible. Where NAWSA
concentrated a majority of its effort upon state campaigns, Paul wanted to focus
all energy and funding upon a national amendment. While NAWSA endorsed
President Wilson and looked to members of the Democratic Party as allies, Alice
Paul wanted to hold Wilson and his party responsible for women's continued
disenfranchisement (a tactic of British Suffragettes). In 1914, after initially
forming a semi-autonomous group called the Congressional Union, Paul and her
followers severed all ties to NAWSA and, in 1916, formed the National Woman's
Party (NWP). The NWP organized "Silent Sentinels" to stand outside the White
House holding banners inscribed with incendiary phrases directed toward
President Wilson. The president initially treated the picketers with bemused
condescension, tipping his hat to them as he passed by; however, his attitude
changed when the United States entered World War I in 1917. Few believed that
suffragists would dare picket a wartime president, let alone use the war in
their written censures, calling him "Kaiser Wilson." Many saw the suffragists'
wartime protests as unpatriotic, and the sentinels, including Alice Paul, were
attacked by angry mobs. The picketers began to be arrested on the trumped up
charge of "obstructing traffic," and were jailed when they refused to pay the
imposed fine. Despite the danger of bodily harm and imprisonment, the
suffragists continued their demonstrations for freedom unabated.
The arrested suffragists were sent to Occoquan
Workhouse, a prison in Virginia. Paul and her compatriots followed the English
suffragette model and demanded to be treated as political prisoners and staged
hunger strikes. Their demands were met with brutality as suffragists, including
frail, older women, were beaten, pushed and thrown into cold, unsanitary, and
rat-infested cells. Arrests continued and conditions at the prison
deteriorated. For staging hunger strikes, Paul and several other suffragists
were forcibly fed in a tortuous method. Prison officials removed Paul to a
sanitarium in hopes of getting her declared insane. When news of the prison
conditions and hunger strikes became known, the press, some politicians, and the
public began demanding the women’s release; sympathy for the prisoners brought
many to support the cause of women's suffrage. Upon her release from prison,
Paul hoped to ride this surge of goodwill into victory.
The Nineteenth Amendment
In 1917, in response
to public outcry about the prison abuse of suffragists, President Wilson
reversed his position and announced his support for a suffrage amendment,
calling it a "war measure." In 1919, both the House and Senate passed the 19th
Amendment and the battle for state ratification commenced. Three-fourths of
the states were needed to ratify the amendment. The battle for ratification
came down to the state of Tennessee in the summer of 1920; if a majority of
the state legislature voted for the amendment, it would become law. The
deciding vote was cast twenty-four year-old Harry Burn, the youngest member
of the Tennessee assembly. Originally intending to vote “no,” Burn changed
his vote after receiving a telegram from his mother asking him to support
women’s suffrage. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee ratified the 19th
Amendment. Six days later, Secretary of State Colby certified the
ratification, and, with the stroke of his pen, American women gained the
right to vote after a seventy-two year battle. August 26th is now
celebrated as Women's Equality Day in the United States.
"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."
-Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment
While many
suffragists left public life and activism after the 19th
Amendment was enacted, Alice Paul believed the true battle for equality had
yet to be won. In 1923, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Seneca
Falls Convention, Paul announced that she would be working for a new
constitutional amendment, one she authored and called the "Lucretia Mott
Amendment." This amendment called for absolute equality stating, "Men and
women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place
subject to its jurisdiction." The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was
introduced in every session of Congress from 1923 until it passed in 1972.
During the 1940s, both the Republicans and Democrats added the ERA to their
party platforms. In 1943, the ERA was rewritten and dubbed the "Alice Paul
Amendment." The new amendment read, "Equality of rights under the law shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of
sex."
Alice Paul worked tirelessly for the Equal
Rights Amendment in the United States and for women's rights internationally.
Following the passage of the 19th Amendment, Paul earned three law degrees
(LL.B., LL.M. and D.C.L.). She also traveled to South America and Europe during
the 20's through the 50's. She began the World Woman's Party (WWP),
headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1938. The WWP worked closely with the
League of Nations for the inclusion of gender equality into the United Nations
Charter and the establishment of the United Nations Commission on the Status of
Women. Alice Paul moved back to the United States in 1941 and became active in
American women’s issues. She led a coalition that was successful in adding a
sexual discrimination clause to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The
re-emergence of the women’s movement in the late sixties led to renewed interest
in the ERA; in 1972, the Senate and the House of Representatives passed the
amendment and it went to the states for ratification. Congress placed a
deadline of seven years on the ratification process; the amendment needed 38
states to become law. Though the deadline was extended until 1982, the amendment
fell short of ratification by three states. Since 1982, the ERA has come before
every session of Congress and current efforts are underway to ratify the
amendment. If Congress repeals the time limit of the original bill and three
states vote for ratification, the ERA could become law. (For more information
on the Equal Rights Amendment, visit
http://www.equalrightsamendment.org).
I never doubted that
equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are
complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary
equality.
- Alice Paul-
Interview, 1972
 Alice Paul
died on July 9, 1977, in Moorestown, New Jersey, just a few miles from her
birthplace and family home of Paulsdale. Her life demonstrates that
one person can make a difference. Her legacy lives on, bearing witness to
the significance of her life and inspiring others who struggle for social
justice. The Alice Paul Institute was founded in 1985 and is dedicated to
creating a heritage and leadership development center at Paulsdale.
The Institute works to educate and encourage women and girls to take
leadership roles in their communities and to continue the long struggle for
women's equality. In her name, the API works to fulfill its mission to
honor her legacy, preserve her home, and develop future leaders (For more
information on the Alice Paul Institute, please visit
Alice Paul Institute).
Printable PDF (pages 1-3)
Researchers
Be sure to
visit our
Researching Alice
page.
Alice Paul biography
written and edited by Rebecca Carol (API Intern, 04), Kristina Myers (Program
Associate), Dr. Janet Lindman (Chair, API Board).
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