Strong & Powerful Women: Alice Paul
On January 11th, 1885, in Moorestown New Jersey, Alice Paul was born. She lived with her mother Tacie Parry Paul, her father William Mickle Paul and her siblings, Helen, William Jr, and Parry. Her father was a successful businessman and her mother was a member of the National American Women's Suffrage Association. Both her parents were huge supporters of equal rights.
When Alice Paul was younger she was very much so interested in her education, which was very uncommon at the time. In 1905, she graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in Biology. She went to go study at the New York School of Social Work in 1907, in England. While there, she joined the Women's Social and Political Union, this group of women were very violent in order to be heard and would get arrested quite a few times. In 1910 she enrolled into the University of Pennsylvania to earn her PhD, and while she studied there she became a member of the National American Women's Suffrage Association, just like her mother. She became the chairman of the congressional committee of the organization but later left to go form her own group.
In 1916, her and Lucy Burns formed the National Women's Party, which fought for women rights, including the right to vote. They had numerous marches, rallies and protests , quite a few of which were outside the White House in Washington, DC. The protests were non-violent but the women would still end up getting arrested and sent to the Occoquan Workhouse where they were brutally beaten and tortured. But none of this stopped the women from fighting for their rights. In 1919, the 19th Amendment was passed by the government, which gave women the right to vote.
In 1922, Alice Paul went on to Washington College of Law, where she earned her law degree. She then made it her mission to make sure women have equal rights. It took years for the law to be passed.
Alice Paul made it her life's work to make sure women would one day not only be able to vote but to also have equal rights, so much so that she never got married. She most definitely is an amazing and admirable woman!
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