Alice Paul, the National Woman's Party and the Vote: The First Civil Rights Struggle of the 20th Century

by Bernadette Cahill

When women picketed the White House demanding the vote on January 10, 1917, they broke new ground in political activism. Demanding that President Wilson influence Congress, they marched in the streets in the nation's first ever coast-to-coast campaign for political rights. Women were imprisoned for peaceful protests, went on hunger strikes and were beaten and tortured by authorities. But they won the 19th Amendment, ensuring that the right to vote could not be denied because of gender. Their successful nonviolent civil rights campaign established a precedent for those that followed, giving them the tools--including the vote--needed to advance their goals. This book chronicles the work of Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party and their influence on American political activism.

Genres: History

232 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2015

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was really hard to get through. I learned some interesting facts and the argument was very valid and well supported. However, a book that according to the title is supposed to be about Alice Paul was only about half the book. While the rest of the book discussing the place of the movement in history and it's influence was fine I felt like it should be in a different book or the title should be a reflection of that. Finally, I felt like the book was very repetitive, there was a bit of beating the dead horse. Or saying points again that had been said earlier.... Again.

[Leslie Goddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cahill makes a good, solid argument that has been vastly overlooked -- that the NWP's work for suffrage was the first 20th century civil rights struggle, that overlooking this history distorts the history of other civil rights struggles, especially African-American history, and that American women's rights history has been ignored, overlooked, minimized, and grossly neglected. She is convincing and powerful in this. The common view that second wave feminism grew out of the 1960s African-American rights movements is a real distortion of how civil rights work unfolded in the U.S.

She also does yeoman work here uncovering endless details about the parades, picketing, and other demonstrations of the NWP. Combing through back issues of The Suffragist and other primary sources, Cahill provides future historians with valuable details and reminding us that relying on major newspapers of the day is insufficient and incomplete. For this, she deserves applause and a debt of thanks.

I have trouble giving this book five stars simply because it was a long slog to get through. The first few chapters are historical (pretty familiar ground to those who know the story of women's suffrage, albeit expanded and much more complete than we've seen). Then come chapters that read more like think pieces about the ensuing work on ERA, African-American rights, the history of women's rights. And finally a walking tour of sorts, of places in DC that remain unmarked, uncommemorated, and revealing about the neglected place of women's history in our commemorations of American history and of suffrage history in civil rights history.

It's valuable work and she's made a real contribution. I might have wished for a livelier, more zesty read, but that doesn't diminish the real value of her persuasive argument.