New Jersey State’s AFL-CIO Celebrates Women’s History Month and Remembers Alice Paul
Tracy J. Chappelle
2 min read
New Jersey State’s AFL-CIO Celebrates Women’s History Month and Remembers Alice Paul
The State of New Jersey AFL-CIO celebrates Women’s History Month 2022 by remembering legendary suffragette, feminist and Jersey girl Alice Paul.
Today’s labor movement was influenced in large part by visionaries like Alice Paul, a suffragette who fought not just for women’s suffrage, but for gender equality.
Born in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, in 1885, Alice Paul was imbued with a strong sense of social justice through her Quaker upbringing. As a child, she often attended meetings of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and remained politically active throughout college and into early adulthood, advocating for the expansion of women’s suffrage.
Alice Paul wanted to use more aggressive campaign tactics, such as protesting the president during World War I, to bring attention to the cause of women’s suffrage. This led Alice Paul and her followers to break away from the NAWSA to form the National Woman’s Party (NWP). The NWPs have been criticized, attacked by opponents and arrested.
But despite all the negative pressure, they persisted, using prison hunger strikes and other measures to shift public opinion in favor of the suffragettes. In 1920, Alice Paul and the suffragette campaign resulted in the successful ratification of the 19th Amendment to the constitution, granting women the right to vote.
But Alice Paul wasn’t done and began building support for the Equal Rights Amendment, later called the Alice Paul Amendment, which would grant legal equality to men and women.
New Jersey State’s AFL-CIO remembers Alice Paul for setting the stage for generations of women to engage in politics, push for better pay, benefits and workplace protections. work, and inspire the progressive labor leaders of today.
You can honor Women’s History Month and Alice Paul by learning more about her story and registering to vote.
Together, we can ensure that the New Jersey labor movement continues to be a leader in fairness, equality and solidarity.
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