We take our voting path lightly these days. I have to admit that I didn’t start using my free and easy right until I was 21 years old. I neither knew nor cared to count the moment of my opinion. I had given up so easily that I didn’t feel the hard work and dedication that I could support. A lucky, rich white man could always vote, for political reasons he only needed to be white and human. Of course, eventually they realized that this was unreasonable and black man could finally vote too. Where then did women fall into this?
Women could not vote until the 1920’s!! It eventually made its way to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. This is not so long ago, if you look at the whole history. The part that really tugs at my heartstrings is hearing about women who stood up for their rights, like mine, and all the other women reading. Alice Paul was a huge advocate for women’s rights. Throughout the winter of 1917, she and other White House lawyers read, proclaiming their views. The president at that time was Woodrow Wilson and the women did not stop when they asked “How long do women wait for freedom?” They both verbally and physically they were attacked; yet they did not give up the fight.
He got into a more personal position when WWI broke out. Wilson was called a hypocrite and such a joke that he needed to stop seeing these women. The police were not at all supportive of the women and did not start arresting them. The women still held strong and did not give up. Finally, Alice, Paul’s leader, was captured and sentenced to a term of 7 months. He was placed in solitary confinement. For 2 weeks he had nothing to eat but bread and only water! Remember ladies, this is all for our right to vote! After this, she was taken to the prison hospital, where she began to starve, and several others joined her. Responding to the beating, she was sent to a psychiatric ward where she was forced to eat three meals a day. Paul never gave back what he believed! She was released from prison five weeks later and the entire ward turned on the officers who were trying to suppress the movement. Many people were aware of the power of the prison feeding Paul and began to show a mass response to support the right of women to vote!
Please remember that at the time Paul came on board, women’s suffrage had been going on for 70 years! Not only Alice Paul, advocate of woman’s suffrage, but others like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Staunton gave their all in trying to lead the way for women’s rights.
I am young and I didn’t know who Alicia Paulus was until this year. She and others must be remembered for the battle fought to obtain such a wonderful privilege that we possess today. Now more than ever, we need to embrace our power to vote and make a difference.
