Alice Paul Research Paper

“It’s not easy to be a hero. You do it because of what you believe, not because of what other people deserve.” Anyone can face a challenge or a hardship. But what makes a true hero is how the person takes on the challenge. Often, heroes show feats of ingenuity and acts of bravery. Two heroes that acted during the American Civil Rights Movement, were Martin Luther King Jr, and Rosa Parks. A hero is a person who has demonstrated behaviors to ethically receive our appreciation and respect. A hero is an ordinary person who finds the strength within themselves to persevere and undergo hardships and calamity.

When the time came to push for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment a group of women stood together to let their voice be heard. As Alice Paul said, "We came to be heard, not to be questioned or to be turned around. We will answer your questions and you may turn us around, but we will prove the burden of justice in our favor then you can no longer make us leave. With that we will

Suffragist Alice Paul got transferred out of the psychopathic ward of Washington, and being force fed. During her toil Alice Paul said, “Why not let this miserable creature starve. The country would be much better off without her and the balance of her gang of pickets.”(Dismore 1). Alice Paul went on this immense hunger strike for her six companions. She wanted to give her six companions better food. She threatened to kill herself of starvation. She was very determined, she was force fed multiple times, but she cared so much for her companion that she didn’t give up. Amidst her hunger strike she and her companions were put into solitary confinement inside a tiny cell with boarded up windows. All this shows Alice Paul will never give up and she spoke with her actions not her words.

Alice Paul was one of the most necessary factors in the equation for Women's Suffrage. Her bold tactics revitalized the suffragists movement and allowed for her to achieve her long term goals. She is the most important person of this time period because she never compromises her beliefs in the face of adversity. From a young age she was taught that she deserved unconditional equal rights. This is a radical notion that will drive her work throughout the rest of her life. She underwent arrests, forced feedings and protest after protest all in the name of equality. This message still resonates with people today as this generation fights for their rights.

Making this movement public was essential in ratification of the Constitution. Paul organized women on all levels. She knew that selling the movement to the American people would further the cause. Her first attempt was to campaign against all Democratic candidates. That did not do much to the political party. She had to reformulate a plan. She organized a group of women to picket the White House daily, except for Sundays, with banners of the President’s own speeches written on them. Papers often carried the stories of the suffragettes’ struggles. When World War I was declared, that changed.

Through out history, Americans have fought for the rights of freedom in their country, freedoms that have been passed down through dozen’s of generations. Freedom’s such as religion, speech, press, slavery and the right to vote. Americans, though very aware of their freedoms, often take them for granted and forget the struggles that their ancestors went through to obtain them. One example of this struggle is a woman’s right to be treated and looked upon by the government as equals. This was not an easy battle to win, and it took a strong few to begin to bring the struggle that women had faced for centuries to an end.

This movement is important because although it took years the goal was achieved. It was a long battle and women were brave enough to put their lives on the line. Alice Paul was a determined young woman

Introduction- background on mid-late 1800’s and the Civil Rights Movement. Define what it would take to be a hero during that time period. (Thesis) Elizabeth Cady Stanton demonstrated how she was a hero through her passion for women’s rights, her courage to stand up for what she believed, and her ability to overcome the discrimination that she faced all her life.

In the beginning I was disillusioned and disheartened. I am a proud and patriotic American and I could not reconcile my love of country and admiration for the Founding Fathers with the fact that so many of 
them owned people who had been kidnapped from their homes in Africa, or were descended from people who had been kidnapped.

Alice Paul was a leader in the suffragist movement, and she left a legacy for more women in the future. She was born in New Jersey and had a social work and law degree. She founded the Congressional Union for Woman Association, and continued to founding many things after that. She founded the World Women’s Party, which gave women equal rights, and that left a legacy for women all over the world. Some of the things that she did to gain this right were controversial, and many people disagreed and she was punished for things on more than one occasion. Alice Paul was an influential leader in women’s rights. She was able to gain them the right to vote, but she had to go through many punishments in order to accomplish and gain that right, but when it happened, she became known as an influential leader for women’s rights.

Alice Brown Davis- lived all of her life serving the Seminole Nation, in the early nineteenth century. She mostly taught, but she ran a trading post called Arbeka. She also built a ranch, was in charge of other local Native American currency, and was the superintendent of the Seminole girls' school. Not to mention she was a law interpreter, and even traveled to Palm beach, Florida to act as an interpreter a murder trial involving a Seminole man. In 1922 she became chief by President Warren G. Harding. Here, she became the first women to lead the Seminole Nation. Though, she was elected by the president, not by her tribe. Her tribe found her to be “well thought of and well respected and the people were happy with having her as Chief. “

First, I will talk about her growing up. “American suffragist Alice Paul was born into a prominent Quaker family in New Jersey in 1885” (History.com). In year 1905 Paul graduated from Swarthmore and then attended the New York school of Philanthropy. “While an activist it was acquired through series of arrest, imprisonments, hunger strikes and forced feedings in 1920”(History.com). Now it’s year 1910 Paul enrolled back to university of Pennsylvania for her return to the U.S. “She launched her full-time suffrage career. Working first within the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Paul gathered about her group of young woman, many of whom had also worked with the Pankhurst in England and who were willing to depart from the associations conservation” (History.com) (source 1 page 1).

Alice Paul returned to the United States of America in 1910 where she enrolled in yet another school. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania where she earned a Ph.D. in sociology. This is one piece of evidence supporting the great leadership that Alice Paul portrayed. She found a cause to identify to and then obtained the needed knowledge and education needed to achieve her goals. After graduating from the University, Paul launched herself into her vocation, becoming a “full-time” suffragist. Paul then joined National American Woman Suffrage Association which was founded by Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony among others. Paul soon realized that the leadership styles employed by these two suffragist leaders did not agree with her personality and so she broke from the group, forming her own. Another piece of evidence, Paul understood herself and so knew what methods would agree with her leadership type and personality, essentially magnifying her impact. Paul then founded the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage with Lucy Burns. “In 1916, NAWSA found itself on the conservative side of the movement.” (ocp.hul.harvard.edu) Paul a radical at

Alice Augusta Ball was born on July 24, 1892 in Seattle Washington. She was an African American chemist who developed an injectable oil abstract from the kava root that was most effective for the treatment of leprosy until 1940. She was also the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Hawaii with a Master’s Degree, and teach chemistry at the university. Her treatment would be named the Ball Method. Alice August Ball was awarded the Regents Medal of Distinction posthumously for her important contribution to chemical science.

Alice Wangui is a single mother that lives in East Africa. She is running her own hair salon business and lives in a city that is very modern. Even thought living in a modern city she is very traditional and still practices her family traditions of Kikuyo tribe. She is eight months pregnant with her second child and wants to give birth in her spiritual homeland. She wants to leave to raise her children in the traditional Kikuyu. Her doctor doesn’t like her plan of leaving to her homeland because she is less than a week before giving birth but Alice doesn’t care and plans to continue with her plans. Going back to Karatina may have some risk like not having the right medical equipment. She just wants her kids to follow their culture. Alice’s aunt thinks she is breaking tradition because for one she is wearing shoes and because she isn’t raising her children there.