Alice Paul

                   Alice Paul

            Alice Paul was born on January 11, 1885 in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. Her mother and father both believed in equality and would often take her to suffrage meetings. Alice graduated from Swarthmore college (which was not common for women to do of this time) in 1905 and did an internship in social work. She later received a master’s degree in sociology. She moved to Europe and worked with the suffrage movement, during this time in England she was jailed often for her work with the suffrage movement. She returned home and received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1912 Alice and her friend Lucy Burns took over the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and tried to get a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. In 1917 she participated in the demonstration in front of the white house to have the right to vote. After being arrested three times for her demonstration’s she went on a hunger strike. She was force feed by being held down while a 5 to 6 foot tube was forced down her throat three times a day for three weeks. In 1920 the amendment for women’s right to vote was finally ratified by all states. Alice went on to get a law degree and a Ph.D. in law. She wrote the Equal rights amendment and introduced it to congress in 1923. This law was supposed to prohibit discrimination based on sex, but it was never passed. We still do not have an equal rights amendment but it has been introduced in every session of congress since 1923. Alice continued her work for equality until her death in 1977.

Work Cited

"Alice Paul." Pocantico Hills Central School. Http://www.pocanticohills.org. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.pocanticohills.org/womenenc/paul.htm>

Megan Clifton