Political Change, Reconstruction / Industrialization: Alice Paul

Download Political Change, Reconstruction / Industrialization: Alice Paul Word Document

Similar content addressed in SOLs: VS.1a-i; USII.1a-h; USII.3e

  • Alice Paul, full-length portrait, standing, facing left, raising glass with right handOne of the leading advocates of women’s rights in the early twentieth century was Alice Paul. Pictured here with a flag for the National Women’s Party, Paul represented the more radical portion of the national movement for gender equality.
  • Alice Paul Describes Force FeedingPaul’s protests and the reaction to them often garnered international attention. This British article describes one particularly salient moment in her career, a time when she was arrested and imprisoned for holding protests. While in prison, Paul went on a hunger strike, which upset the prison guards. They force-fed her through tubes against her will. In this article, Paul claims that similar methods had been used before, both in America and in England, where she worked with British activists to spread the cause of women’s rights across the Atlantic.
  • Alice Paul talksPaul was active in both America and England for most of her career. This article details some of her activities abroad, including a vocal protest in from of British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith.
  • Suffragists demonstrating against Woodrow Wilson in Chicago, 1916Paul’s method of protest centered on involved large public demonstrations in prominent areas of cities. Along a large street in Chicago here is a protest by the National Women’s Party, a group that Paul co-founded.
  • Nation-wide demonstrations were held on May 2nd in support of Federal Amendment. Envoys from these demonstrations brought petitions to Washington on May 9th and carried them in procession to Congress from Lafayette Square. Five thousand women massed on anSome of the largest women’s rights protests in the country were organized by Paul’s groups. Here is a scene from a famous 1914 protest in which Paul led NWP members onto the steps of the U.S. Capitol to advocate for women’s suffrage.