How Women Won the Vote: Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and Their Big Idea

HOW WOMEN WON THE VOTE begins in 1909 in a London police station. Among the women under arrest for marching on Parliament to demand the vote for women are two young Americans, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. When they return to America, they continue speaking out for a woman's right to vote and discover they make a great team. In 1912, they come up with a big idea: the largest and best suffrage parade the country has ever seen. It takes place on March 3, 1913, the day before the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. Some 250,000 people line Pennsylvania Avenue to watch, as 5,000 woman along with floats, bands, and mounted brigades prepare to march. But the day turns violent almost as soon as the parade begins. Mobs start attacking the marchers. "Girls," yells Alice, "get out your hat pins." With few police on hand, it's Boy Scouts who come to their rescue and force the attackers back to the curb before the cavalry finally arrives from nearby Ft. Meyer. The parade continues, but its strong message doesn't change the mind of the new president. He's still opposed to women getting the vote. When Wilson's second term begins in 1917, Alice and Lucy join the women who've begun picketing outside the White House. In June, police begin arresting the picketers. They're sent to jail and to a workhouse and often beaten by guards. Lucy has her hands shackled to an overhead iron bar, Alice is sent to a psychiatric ward, and both are force-fed by guards. But as soon as picketers are released, they come back to the street outside the White House. In January 1918, Wilson announces he's changed his mind. The women have won. Congress goes onto pass the 19^th Amendment giving vote to women, and after being ratified by 36 states, it becomes law in August 1920.