ALICE PAUL WAS BORN in Moorestown, New Jersey, to a Quaker family. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 1905 and worked briefly at the New York College Settlement. In 1906, she went to England for three years to work in the settlement house movement. Inspired by Christabel Pankhurst's dedication and passion for the suffrage cause, Paul joined the Women's Social and Political Union in London, England, and so at age 22 began her lifelong campaign for women's suffrage.

Back in the United States, Paul continued her work for women's right to vote by organizing protests and rallies. In 1912, she earned her Ph.D. in social work from the University of Pennsylvania, with a doctoral thesis entitled “Toward Equality.” That same year she was asked by Jane ...