"From the outset, Quakers granted women more status than other denominations. Not only were they ministers, they went to jail for their activities just as men did"
-Mary Walton, author of A Woman's Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot
The values Alice was instilled with included dedication and that all people are created equal, which had an obvious effect on Alice throughout her entire life.
"When you put your hand to the plow, you can’t put it down until you get to the end of the row" |
Paul became interested in politics during her senior year at Swarthmore. She went on to study sociology at two schools.
"This new interest sent Paul to the New York School of Philanthropy in 1906 to study sociology. Through sociology... Paul was studying politics. In her spare time, she worked for woman suffrage in New York, gathering voter signatures for a state referendum... By 1907, Paul had earned a master's degree in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania" |
"After I got my master’s in 1907, my doctoral studies took me to the School of Economics in London. The English women were struggling hard to get the vote, and everyone was urged to come in and help. So I did. That’s all there was to it"
-Alice Paul
"Led by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Sylvia and Christabel, British suffragists had begun 'wild women' protest in 1905. They sneaked into male political meetings to shout questions, unfurl banners, and be arrested" |
"I think it was in December of 1909, and [Lucy Burns] and I were asked to interrupt the Lord Mayor. I went into the hall, not the night before but early in the morning when the chairwomen went to work, and I waited up in the gallery all day. That night Lucy went in down below with the banquet guests. I don’t remember whether she got up and interrupted the mayor. I only remember that I did"
-Alice Paul