A vocal leader of the women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul was instrumental in securing passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.
Throughout her advocacy, Alice Paul organized parades and pickets in support of suffrage. Her first—and the largest—was in Washington, DC in 1913. Approximately eight thousand women marched with banners and floats from the Capitol to the White House.
In January 1917, Paul and more than 1,000 “Silent Sentinels” as they were known because they would not speak or interact with individuals passing by, began 18 months of picketing and protesting at the White House enduring verbal and even physical attacks.
Instead of protecting the women’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly, they were arrested. Alice Paul was ultimately sentenced to 7 months in jail. There, she organized a hunger strike in protest. Newspaper accounts of her treatment garnered public sympathy and support for suffrage.
In 1919, The US House of Representatives and Senate voted to pass the 19th amendment. It would finally be ratified in 1920.
After the passage of the 19th Amendment, Alice Paul continued to advocate for equal rights and the National Women’s Party focused on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to guarantee women constitutional protection from discrimination. It was introduced in 1923 but has yet to be ratified.
