Alice Paul Suffragism

Alice Paul and the Suffragist Movement
Evelyn stepped up to the box, her ballot gripped tightly in her fist. Her heart was
pounding. She looked at the box, took a deep breath, and dropped her vote into the box. The
paper ballot landed in the bottom of the box with a soft thud. It was finished. On November 2,
1920, millions of women just like Evelyn voted in the Presidential election for the first time. It
was a landmark victory for the suffragist and feminist movement, after nearly 150 years of
fighting. Women such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt, and
Alice Paul had been lobbying Congress for years to pass a suffragist amendment, and now their
dreams had finally been achieved.
Alice Paul was born on January

11, 1885 in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. She was born to
relatively wealthy Hicksite Quaker parents, on a farm called Paulsdale. Paulsdale was a
gentleman’s farm, meaning all the work was done by servants.

Her parents were members of the
Hicksite Friends. The Friends believed in gender equality, education for women, and the need to
better society. Alice’s parents raised her with these principals, shaping her feminist beliefs from
an early age. Tacie Parry, Alice’s mother, was also a member of NAWSA, the National
American Woman Suffrage Association. She would often bring Alice to meetings, and would
host many at Paulsdale (“Alice Paul: Feminist…”).
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In 1901, Alice graduated as Valedictorian and the top of her class from her Quaker high
school in Moorestown, New Jersey. That fall, she entered as a freshman at Swarthmore College,
a Quaker school that was partially founded by her grandfather. In 1905, she graduated with a
Bachelor’s degree in biology. She then went to the to the New York School of Philanthropy, now
known as Columbia University, which she graduated from in 1907 with a Master of Arts degree
in sociology. She then moved to England to study social work at the Woodbrooke Settlement.
When she returned, she studied at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with a PhD
(Michals, Debra).
While she was in England, Alice became involved with the Pankhurst

Movement.
Emmeline Pankhurst, along with her daughters Christabel, Sylvia, and Adela, led a radical
militant group fighting for women’s suffrage in Britain. They started off with prayer sessions.
When that didn’t work, they began peaceful demonstrations and marches. They sent petitions to
Parliament, the Prime Minister, and even the King. However, no one took them seriously. They
were laughed at, and told to go home. They were told to continue being housewives and good
British citizens, and to leave this ridiculous idea alone. Their slogan soon became “Deeds not
Words,” and they began to perform direct and highly visible measures. They heckled politicians
and other important male figures. They smashed windows, threw rocks, and rioted in the streets.
They also developed a political strategy to hold the party in power responsible for not giving
women the vote, no matter which party (Kettler, Sarah). This allowed the women to blame all of
England, rather than just one party or group, which affected everyone. The women wanted to
raise public awareness for suffrage, and they were very successful. During her time in England,
Alice broke more than 48 windows, was imprisoned multiple times, and had to endure traumatic
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