Alice being arrested
Pinterest
After finishing high-school in 1901, Alice attended Swarthmore College Pa because her Quaker grandfather was one of the College’s founding fathers. And mum Tacie was responsible for introducing Alice to the fight for women’s suffrage. Tacie was a devoted member of the NAWSA and often took Alice with her to the meetings.
After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology at Swarthmore in 1905, she went to the Columbia Uni School of Social Work in New York.
Perhaps American suffragettes should have gone to New Zealand or Australia for guidance, not Britain. NZ's suffrage campaign peaceably succeeded with women’s rights in 1893 and only later spread through Britain and its Empire etc.
Yet Alice Paul sailed to Britain, training in the Quakers’ Woodbrooke Settlement Birmingham (1907-10). Birmingham was where, in 1907, she became politically active and where she met Emmeline and Christobel Pankhurst. These were militant suffragettes who endorsed direct measures like heckling, window smashing and rock throwing, to raise public awareness about their cause. And the Pankhursts also held the political party in power responsible for discrimination against women.
Alice enrolled at Pennsylvania Uni on her return to the USA in 1910, earning a Ph.D in sociology and launched her career in 1912. Working within the NAWSA, Paul gathered a group of young women, many of whom had also worked in Britain with the Pankhursts and who were willing to drop NAWSA’s conservative tactics.
Alice Paul (1885-1977) was born in Mt Laurel N.J, the first child prominent Quakers, William and Tacie Paul. William Paul led a Trust Co. in N.J, which provided for comfortable family living. Nonetheless Alice was still taught the Quaker traditions of working for society, gender equality, non-materialism, closeness to nature, and modesty
After finishing high-school in 1901, Alice attended Swarthmore College Pa because her Quaker grandfather was one of the College’s founding fathers. And mum Tacie was responsible for introducing Alice to the fight for women’s suffrage. Tacie was a devoted member of the NAWSA and often took Alice with her to the meetings.
After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology at Swarthmore in 1905, she went to the Columbia Uni School of Social Work in New York.
Perhaps American suffragettes should have gone to New Zealand or Australia for guidance, not Britain. NZ's suffrage campaign peaceably succeeded with women’s rights in 1893 and only later spread through Britain and its Empire etc.
Yet Alice Paul sailed to Britain, training in the Quakers’ Woodbrooke Settlement Birmingham (1907-10). Birmingham was where, in 1907, she became politically active and where she met Emmeline and Christobel Pankhurst. These were militant suffragettes who endorsed direct measures like heckling, window smashing and rock throwing, to raise public awareness about their cause. And the Pankhursts also held the political party in power responsible for discrimination against women.
Alice enrolled at Pennsylvania Uni on her return to the USA in 1910, earning a Ph.D in sociology and launched her career in 1912. Working within the NAWSA, Paul gathered a group of young women, many of whom had also worked in Britain with the Pankhursts and who were willing to drop NAWSA’s conservative tactics.
Alice Paul addressing thousands of women, 1913
Washington DC
From 1910-3, NAWSA focused on passing legislation at state and local levels by organising State referendums and tailoring the fight towards men. NAWSA believed that if the movement had more male supporters, it would be more persuasive to male legislators.
Leading the Congressional Committee of NAWSA in Washington DC, Alice assembled a mass march of suffragists around the most important government buildings: White House, Capitol Building, Treasury Building. This huge march took place in Mar 1913, the day before Pres Wilson’s inauguration. Photo pinterest!
From 1910-4, some western states gradually yielded to suffragette demands. The movement was winning the battle by slow instalments: Washington in 1910, California 1911, Arizona 1912, Kansas 1912, Oregon 1912, Illinois 1913, Nevada 1914 and Montana 1914. So it was evident to Paul that the struggle for women’s vote needed a change in strategy to get a Federal amendment passed.
By 1913 Alice organised eager young women who moved to each recalcitrant state, visiting newspapers and calling on local women to serve on vote-getting committees. Once the women had established themselves, the Congressional Union sent out a speaker. From there, each woman moved to a new town, until every town in a state had been canvassed, when the woman returned to Washington and made a report to that state’s congressman.
Washington DC
From 1910-3, NAWSA focused on passing legislation at state and local levels by organising State referendums and tailoring the fight towards men. NAWSA believed that if the movement had more male supporters, it would be more persuasive to male legislators.
Leading the Congressional Committee of NAWSA in Washington DC, Alice assembled a mass march of suffragists around the most important government buildings: White House, Capitol Building, Treasury Building. This huge march took place in Mar 1913, the day before Pres Wilson’s inauguration. Photo pinterest!
From 1910-4, some western states gradually yielded to suffragette demands. The movement was winning the battle by slow instalments: Washington in 1910, California 1911, Arizona 1912, Kansas 1912, Oregon 1912, Illinois 1913, Nevada 1914 and Montana 1914. So it was evident to Paul that the struggle for women’s vote needed a change in strategy to get a Federal amendment passed.
By 1913 Alice organised eager young women who moved to each recalcitrant state, visiting newspapers and calling on local women to serve on vote-getting committees. Once the women had established themselves, the Congressional Union sent out a speaker. From there, each woman moved to a new town, until every town in a state had been canvassed, when the woman returned to Washington and made a report to that state’s congressman.
Alice spent 3 years with the NAWSA, yet the marches on Washington were seen as too radical by some. So she broke with the NAWSA and joined the Congressional Union, seeking a Federal constitutional amendment. Then she formed the National Woman’s Party/NWP in 1916, headquartered in Washington. Under her leadership, the NWP became known for its radical tactics that propelled the Women’s Suffrage Movement. In Jan 1917, suffragists from the NWP marched down Pennsylvania Ave, stopping in front of the gate to Woodrow Wilson’s White House.
Despite the US’s entry into WWI in 1917, NWP refused to abandon their tactics! There were thousands of women from different states who volunteered to stand on the White House picket lines daily, in front of America’s policy makers and press. But public opinion in war-time US changed to that of disdain. The women’s attacks were seen as an unpatriotic menace to the U.S government; opponents attacked the women, taking their banners and inciting violence. And policemen never protected the picketers.
In Oct 1917, Paul was sentenced to 6 months in Occoquan Workhouse Prison Va. The prison cells were small, rat infested and dark, and the air fetid. Plus gaolers started brutal physical intimidation.
The women’s hunger strikes were to ensure the treatment of suffragists as political prisoners. So to deter the hunger strikes, prison officials began to force feed Paul 3 times daily. In solitary confinement, she was deprived of sleep by noise all night and eventually put into the psychiatric ward. The prison hoped that she’d be diagnosed as mentally insane, ending the legitimacy of the National Women’s Party. But she was considered sane by the gaol psychiatrist!
Almost immediately after the torture news broke, the NWP prisoners at Occoquan received support from some of the public, the press and politicians. The women were released from prison in late 1917.
Despite the US’s entry into WWI in 1917, NWP refused to abandon their tactics! There were thousands of women from different states who volunteered to stand on the White House picket lines daily, in front of America’s policy makers and press. But public opinion in war-time US changed to that of disdain. The women’s attacks were seen as an unpatriotic menace to the U.S government; opponents attacked the women, taking their banners and inciting violence. And policemen never protected the picketers.
In Oct 1917, Paul was sentenced to 6 months in Occoquan Workhouse Prison Va. The prison cells were small, rat infested and dark, and the air fetid. Plus gaolers started brutal physical intimidation.
The women’s hunger strikes were to ensure the treatment of suffragists as political prisoners. So to deter the hunger strikes, prison officials began to force feed Paul 3 times daily. In solitary confinement, she was deprived of sleep by noise all night and eventually put into the psychiatric ward. The prison hoped that she’d be diagnosed as mentally insane, ending the legitimacy of the National Women’s Party. But she was considered sane by the gaol psychiatrist!
Almost immediately after the torture news broke, the NWP prisoners at Occoquan received support from some of the public, the press and politicians. The women were released from prison in late 1917.
Silent Sentinels, picketing White House, 1917,
Library of Congress.
The 19th Amendment passed in both houses of Congress with the necessary 2/3 majority; it was ratified by the states and in Aug 1920, the Amendment was added to the Constitution. In 1923, Alice Paul proposed an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. But that was a longer battle.
Read Fearless Radicalism: Alice Paul and Her Fight for Women’s Suffrage, by Anna Reiter.
Library of Congress.
After WWI, Pres. Wilson returned home & encouraged legislatures to pass the 19th Amendment (Women’s Vote). The League of Women Voters (formed 1920) promoted social reform through education. But American women had a problem: only MEN could vote for the 19th amendment.
The 19th Amendment passed in both houses of Congress with the necessary 2/3 majority; it was ratified by the states and in Aug 1920, the Amendment was added to the Constitution. In 1923, Alice Paul proposed an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. But that was a longer battle.
Read Fearless Radicalism: Alice Paul and Her Fight for Women’s Suffrage, by Anna Reiter.
.jpg)
26 comments:
She is a pivotal figure in the American women’s suffrage movement, drawing inspiration from her Quaker upbringing and activist mother
Even though the Women’s Suffrage Movement was in danger of evaporating when Alice
Paul arrived on the scene, it is because of her radical and militant political activism through
picketing, hunger strikes, and relentlessness pressure on the government that reinvigorated the
movement and played the most crucial role in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, giving
women the right to vote. By commanding center stage of the movement and utilizing her radical
tactics, Alice Paul demanded nothing less than the passage of a constitutional amendment.
Fearless Radicalism: Alice Paul and Her Fight for Women’s Suffrage, by Anna Reiter
roentare
The Friends Committee agreed with you that Quakers used non-violence as a powerful tool for seeking peaceful solutions to conflict. Quakers were not passive in situations of injustice. Instead they resisted with nonviolent tools rather than outward weapons.
Anna
Great paper which I wouldn't have known had a copy not been sent to me... thank you.
Paul's radical political activism through picketing, hunger strikes and pressure on the government clearly reinvigorated her movement and played the most crucial role in the passage of the Amendment that gave women the right to vote. But did it win her the admiration of other feminists, especially Quakers?
After all that the Suffragettes endured, it annoys me that so many women 'can't be bothered' to vote.
It's a pity that it is still a big difference between women and men's rights and salaries ! In Belgium a woman was not allowed to have a bank account when she was married and housewife !! That lasted until 1971 ! And don't talk about the right of vote ! Some countries were very late to allow women to vote. I think Switzerland was the last only in 1990 women votes were allowed in all cantons of Switzerland ! Imagine !
re your comment concerning my age and car wash price, it was not reduced because of my age, but because of my "good looking" (lol)
Hello Hels, From today's viewpoint, it seems incredible that it took the torture in jail of Alice Paul to bring about women's voting rights, and also that this was recent enough that I knew women (such as my great-grandmother) who could not vote. And now we are seeing the process in reverse, with rights being taken away at a record pace. We need Alice Paul back again, or at least people like her with her common sense and dedication.
--Jim
I visited the National Woman's Right historical park in New York state once, and that's when I learned that women in some western states received the vote so much earlier than the rest of American women. It's interesting how long it took for women to be able to have some independent rights. This was a fascinating post. Thanks for sharing this one too Hels. Happy April to you also.
Women HAD that right already--at least for federal elections. The Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article 4, Section 2) guaranteed the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave. Northerners took advantage of a tariff civil war to efface that clause via the 13th Amendment, then the 14th defined political citizens as persons born and born there and, fac-similes show, with hand edits, specified rightful voters in federal AND State elections as male. Key was the 15th, which enforced (federal) suffrage yet omitted "male" in the ratified original. A Supreme court judge reinterpreted it so as to ex-post-facto inject "male" in discussions tangential to appeals to quash indictments against white supremacists who committed the Easter Massacre of elected officials at Colfax parish Louisiana in 1873. The presumptive calque denied women the vote in federal elections until the 19th Amendment voided the fraud. The fac-simile shows no "male" and no tampering. See also the next national election, won by Tilden in both popular and electoral votes, overturned in exchange for immunity of added violent perpetrators.
Odd how none of that non-aggressive virtue rubbed off on Herbert Clark Hoover or Richard Milhous Nixon...
Hank
both of those presidents had indeed been born in Quaker families and certainly would have known Quaker values re justice, violence and conflict resolution. But how many children go to their parents' meetings every sunday, once they run their own homes? How many adults don't obey every religious law they had once obeyed, when they had been children?
jabblog
I find that extraordinary, especially since Australia has mandatory voting for every adult citizen. I cannot imagine anyone not voting, unless they are in hospital or gaol or overseas.... and even then, they are helped to vote by government officials.
But any group who were prohibited from voting should be even MORE determined to have their vote count. Do we have any evidence that women are discouraged or banned from voting by their controlling husbands, for example?
Ingrid
there are _still_ many ways to control peoples' voting rights, as I am sadly finding out.
1. Some countries limit the voting rights of all adults. A recent election in the United Arab Emirates granted suffrage to only 12% of all men and women.
2. all Egyptians are automatically registered to vote at 18 years. But women are less likely than men to have an ID and cannot show one at the voting box.
3. Laws change in both directions. Spain's Franco regime immediately brought in cruel measures that took away women's right to vote. Reforms didn't take place until after Franco's death in 1975.
Parnassus
I think the rest of women's voting rights in the U.S would have _eventually_ caught up with other democratic nations, and even some U.S states. After all, the NAWSA had battled for decades and voting was becoming inevitable in the rest of the U.S states.
But Alice Paul found the NAWSA had little impact getting a Federal amendment passed. Her tactics with Congressional Union and the National Woman’s Party were inspired, and WW1 changed millions of people. Alice's hideous gaol sentence, starvation and torture only confirmed what the Feds must have always known.. and feared.
Erika
Wyoming women got the state vote in 1869, Colorado 1893, and Idaho and Utah 1896. Washington women got the state vote in 1910, California 1911, Arizona 1912, Kansas 1912, Oregon 1912, Illinois 1913, Nevada 1914 and Montana 1914. What a disgrace that other states and the Feds didn't give women the vote till after WW1 :(
Hank
in what year did U.S women have voting rights, at least for federal elections?
The states where women first go the vote seems to be a strange collection. I would have thought states like New York or California.
I can't say I've thought about women getting the vote in the US, so that was interesting. It should never have had be fought for, there or here.
Seems Alice fought well and endured much so women could have the right to vote.
Alice Paul’s determination and resilience truly set her apart in the history of the suffrage movement. She didn’t just advocate for change—she endured immense hardship to secure it. Her fearless tactics, especially her hunger strikes and protests in front of the White House, made a lasting impact on the fight for women's voting rights.
By the way, I have just shared a new post. I’d love for you to check it out and let me know your thoughts.
Andrew
Ditto in Australia. Why did South Australian and Western Australian women get state voting rights years before NSW and Victorian women?
Margaret
She was brave and fearless, so I hope she received a lot of personal and political support.
I was in public anti Vietnam activities in the late 60s but I would never have risked my life.
Melody
I read all your travel blog posts, thank you. I love travel.
I knew everything about the Pankhursts but nothing about Alice Paul. She deserves better than that.
What an interesting turn of events. I did not realise how close to exhaustion the movement was. Having lived through the changes in South Africa, I am very much a fan of the idea of compulsory voting. I also like the idea that Switzerland has where everything is put to referendum that citizens vote for using apps on their phones
Boa tarde. Uma excelente quinta-feira com muita paz e saúde. Ou bom dia. O Parque Nacional da Tijuca é bem cuidado, mas incêndios criminosos, podem ocorrer em qualquer lugar. O Brasil, possui outros biomas além da Amazônia, que precisam de um cuidado especial. O Pantanal e o Cerrado, sofrem com a soja, o milho e o algodão. Agricultura com cuidado com o meio-ambiente é imprescindível.
Mandy
every responsibility of citizenship is mandatory... paying all taxes, obeying driving laws, obeying drinking laws, banning guns across the nation, not bringing drugs in from abroad, protecting children etc. Can you imagine saying to the authorities: "I am sorry I was drunk driving... I didn't know it was compulsory to be sober in a car".
I have never met anyone who didn't vote as required, but if someone did, a fine would quickly follow. In any case, if you disliked every candidate in your electorate, they could simply leave the boxes empty.
Luiz
agreed. There are two important requirements:
1. For the nation to work hard for climate control across the world, and
2. Preparing in detail for climate crises in the state: bush fires, drought, flooding, animal disease etc. Environmental protection is indeed critical.
Post a Comment