Alice Paul
The suffragist who refused to wait, using radical protest and political pressure to force America to grant women the vote.
1885–1977 (age 92)·American activist·Birthday: January 11·The Lost Generation
Biography
Alice Paul brought a new militancy to the American women's suffrage movement. Studying in Britain, she was galvanized by the confrontational tactics of the Pankhursts, and upon returning home, she injected that same relentless energy into the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Impatient with state-by-state campaigning, Paul broke away to form the National Woman's Party, targeting President Woodrow Wilson and the federal government directly. She organized the first major political march on Washington in 1913 and then the Silent Sentinels, who picketed the White House for months, enduring arrest, brutal force-feeding, and public scorn. Her unwavering strategy of holding the party in power accountable, combined with the public relations impact of the protesters' treatment, created the final, crucial pressure that led to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Paul spent the rest of her life drafting and fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Alice was born in 1885, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Alice Was Born
The biggest hits of 1885
Alice's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1885Born
Karl Benz builds the first gasoline-powered automobile
President: Grover Cleveland
1890Started school
Wounded Knee massacre marks the end of the Indian Wars
President: Benjamin Harrison
1898Became a teenager
Spanish-American War; US emerges as a world power
President: William McKinley
1901Could drive
Queen Victoria dies, ending the Victorian era
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1903Could vote
Wright brothers achieve first powered flight
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1906Turned 21
San Francisco earthquake devastates the city
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1915Turned 30
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1925Turned 40
The Scopes Trial debates evolution in schools
Home: $4,366President: Calvin Coolidge"Sweet Georgia Brown" — Ben Bernie
1935Turned 50
Social Security Act signed into law
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,450President: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Cheek to Cheek" — Fred AstaireBest Picture: Mutiny on the Bounty
1945Turned 60
WWII ends; atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $4,600Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Sentimental Journey" — Les Brown & Doris DayBest Picture: The Lost Weekend
1955Turned 70
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $9,550Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Rock Around the Clock" — Bill Haley & His CometsBest Picture: Marty
1965Turned 80
US sends combat troops to Vietnam
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,600Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" — The Rolling StonesBest Picture: The Sound of Music
1977Died at 92
Star Wars premieres; Elvis dies
Gas: $0.62/galHome: $31,800Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Tonight's the Night" — Rod StewartBest Picture: Annie Hall
Key Achievements
- Led the Silent Sentinels in daily pickets of the White House from 1917 to 1919, a radical protest that shifted public opinion on suffrage.
- Founded the National Woman's Party, which employed direct-action tactics to target the federal government for a constitutional amendment.
- Organized the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C., a massive and strategically timed march the day before President Wilson's inauguration.
- Was the original author of the Equal Rights Amendment, first introduced to Congress in 1923.
Did You Know?
She earned a PhD in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1912.
While imprisoned, she initiated a hunger strike and was force-fed raw eggs through a tube by prison authorities.
She earned three law degrees after the suffrage victory, including a Doctor of Civil Law from American University.
She successfully campaigned for a clause protecting women in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.”
