68 Facts About Alice Paul

Alice Paul often suffered police brutality and other physical abuse for her activism, always responding with nonviolence and courage.

Alice Paul was jailed under terrible conditions in 1917 for participating in a Silent Sentinels protest in front of the White House, as she had been several times during earlier efforts to secure the vote for women in England.

Alice Paul won a major permanent success with the inclusion of women as a group protected against discrimination by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Alice Stokes Paul was born on January 11,1885, to William Mickle Paul I and Tacie Parry Paul at Paulsdale in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey.

Alice Paul was a namesake for Alice Stokes, her maternal grandmother and the wife of William Parry.

Alice Paul's siblings were Willam Mickle Paul II, Helen Paul Shearer, and Parry Haines Paul.

Alice Paul was a descendant of William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania.

Alice Paul's ancestors included participants in the New Jersey Committee of Correspondence in the Revolutionary era and a state legislative leader in the 19th century.

Alice Paul grew up in the Quaker tradition of public service.

Alice Paul first learned about women's suffrage from her mother, a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and would sometimes join her mother in attending suffragist meetings.

Alice Paul attended Moorestown Friends School, where she graduated at the top of her class.

Alice Paul graduated from Swarthmore with a bachelor's degree in biology in 1905.

In 1907, after completing coursework in political science, sociology, and economics, Alice Paul earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Alice Paul continued her studies at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham, England.

Alice Paul took economics classes from the University of Birmingham while continuing to earn money doing social work.

Alice Paul was arrested repeatedly in London during suffrage demonstrations and served three jail terms.

Alice Paul's dissertation was entitled "The Legal Position of Women in Pennsylvania"; it addressed the history of the women's movement in Pennsylvania and the rest of the US and urged woman suffrage as the key issue of the day.

In 1907, after completing her master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania, Alice Paul moved to England, where she eventually became deeply involved with the British women's suffrage movement, regularly participating in demonstrations and marches of the Women's Social and Political Union.

Alice Paul first became involved by selling a Suffragist magazine on street corners.

Alice Paul quickly gained the trust of fellow WSPU members through her talent with visual rhetoric and her willingness to put herself in physical danger to increase the visibility of the suffrage movement.

For example, during a London arrest, Alice Paul refused to put on prisoner's clothing.

Alice Paul had developed severe gastritis at the end of her month in prison.

Alice Paul was carried out of prison and immediately tended to by a doctor.

Alice Paul had been given a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU.

Alice Paul drew upon the teachings of Woodbrooke and her religion and quickly decided that she wanted to embrace a single goal as a testimony.

Alice Paul reenrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, pursuing her Ph.

Alice Paul was determined to pressure Wilson because the office of the President would be able to influence Congress the most.

Alice Paul insisted the parade route go through Pennsylvania Avenue where President Wilson would be.

Alice Paul's goal was to send the message that the push for women's suffrage existed before Wilson and would outlast him if need be.

Washington, DC officials originally resisted this route, and according to biographer Christine Lunardini, Alice Paul was the only one who truly believed the parade would take place on that route.

Alice Paul responded by demanding the city supervisor provide more police, which was not done.

Alice Paul formed the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and, later, the National Woman's Party in 1916.

Alice Paul went to Mabel Vernon to help her organize a picketing campaign.

Alice Paul knew the only way they could accomplish their goal was by displaying the President's attitude toward suffrage, so picketing would achieve this in the best manner.

Alice Paul was the "Commandant", and Mabel Vernon was the "Officer of the Day".

Alice Paul created state days to get volunteers for the pickets, such as Pennsylvania Day, Maryland Day, and Virginia Day.

Alice Paul made special days for professional women, such as doctors, nurses, and lawyers.

In solidarity with other activists in her organization, Alice Paul purposefully strove to receive the seven-month jail sentence that started on October 20,1917.

Alice Paul began serving her time in the District Jail.

In protest of the conditions at the District Jail, Alice Paul began a hunger strike.

Alice Paul remained in leadership positions, officially and unofficially, until she moved to Connecticut in 1974.

Alice Paul understood the value of single-issue politics for building coalitions and securing success.

Alice Paul believed that protective legislation hurt women wage earners because some employers simply fired them rather than implement protections on working conditions that safeguarded women.

Alice Paul believed that women should be treated under the law like men were and not as a class that required protection.

Alice Paul expected women workers to rally behind the ERA; some did, many did not.

Alice Paul helped ensure that the United Nations proclamations include equality for women.

Alice Paul hoped that this would encourage the United States to follow suit.

Alice Paul worked to change laws that had altered the status of a woman's citizenship based on that of her husband's.

Just after the founding of the United Nations in 1945, Alice Paul wanted to ensure that women's equality was a part of the organization's charter and that its Commission on Human Rights included a focus on women's equality in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Alice Paul prevailed: the final version of the Declaration in 1948 opened with a reference to "equal rights of men and women".

The ERA was introduced in Congress in 1923 and had various peaks and valleys of support in the following years as Alice Paul continued to push for its passage.

Alice Paul was encouraged when women's movement activism gained steam in the 1960s and 1970s, which she hoped would spell victory for the ERA.

Alice Paul's version was politically insightful and strategic: politicians who believed in states' rights, including many Southern states, were more likely to support an ERA that gave states some discretion of enforcement authority than a version that did not.

Alice Paul was proved correct: while the ERA did receive a three-year extension from Congress, it remained three states short of those needed for ratification.

Alice Paul played a significant role in adding protection for women in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, despite the opposition of liberals who feared it would end protective labor laws for women.

Alice Paul had an active social life until she moved to Washington, DC in late 1912.

Alice Paul enjoyed close relationships with women and befriended and occasionally dated men.

Alice Paul did not preserve private correspondence for the most part, so few details about her personal life are available.

Once Alice Paul devoted herself to winning the vote for women, she placed the suffrage effort first in her life.

Alice Paul knew William Parker, a scholar she met at the University of Pennsylvania, for several years; he may have tendered a marriage proposal in 1917.

Alice Paul became a vegetarian around the time of the suffrage campaign.

In 1974, Alice Paul suffered a stroke and was placed in a nursing home under the guardianship of her nephew, who depleted her estate.

Alice Paul is buried at Westfield Friends Burial Ground in Cinnaminson, New Jersey.

Alice Paul was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1979, and into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2010.

Alice Paul appeared on a United States half-ounce $10 gold coin in 2012 as part of the First Spouse Gold Coin Series.

The US Treasury Department announced in 2016 that an image of Paul will appear on the back of a newly designed $10 bill along with Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession that Paul initiated and organized.

The Alice Paul Institute keeps her legacy alive with educational exhibits about her life, accomplishments, and advocacy for gender equality.

In 2018, Alice Paul was a central character in an episode of Timeless which alludes to Paul giving an impassioned speech to President Woodrow Wilson during a march that ends in police violence upon the suffragist marchers.