Alice Paul : claiming power

409 Pages·2014·5.87 MB·English

by  Fry

Alice Paul

Alice Paul
Claiming Power
z
J. D. ZAHNISER
&
AMELIA R. FRY
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zahniser, Jill Diane.
Alice Paul : claiming power / J. D. Zahniser & Amelia R. Fry.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–995842–9 (alk. paper) 1. Paul, Alice, 1885–1977.
2. Suffragists—United States—Biography. 3. Women—Suffrage—United States—History.
4. Womens rights—United States—History. I. Fry, Amelia R. II. Title.
HQ1413.P38Z34 2014
324.6'23092—dc23
[B]
2013050418
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Alice Paul raises a glass to celebrate winning the vote for American women in August 1920. Library of Congress,
Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ds-00180
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
A Note about Naming x
Introduction 1
1. “Mind the Light” 5
2. “We Will Find a Way, or We Will Make One” 25
3. “Heart and Soul Convert” 41
4. “A New and More Heroic Plane” 65
5. “A Little Stone in a Big Mosaic” 86
6. “We Came, They Saw, We Conquered!” 105
7. “A Procession of Our Own” 126
8. “A Dark Conspiracy” 160
9. “We Go to Smash, or Make Good” 178
10. “A Great Body of Voting Women” 192
11. “The Voice of the New Power” 211
12. “The Ghost at the Feast” 231
13. “The Young Are at the Gates” 254
14. “Jailed for Freedom” 279
15. “Not a Gift, but a Triumph” 298
Epilogue 320
Notes 325
Bibliography of Major Sources 381
Index 387

Acknowledgments
The path to completing this book became as complicated as its subject.
Amelia Fry began researching Alice Paul’s life a decade after her extensive inter-
view with Alice completed under the auspices of the Suffragist Oral History
Project, based at Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. Beyond this oral history, Amelia
found personal information about Paul difficult to acquire because an uncoopera-
tive nephew held the suffrage leader’s private papers. Amelia therefore talked to
as many former friends, relatives, neighbors, and compatriots as she could locate.
She spent the next twenty years excavating Alice Paul’s past and maintain-
ing her historical memory. She dipped into the National Woman’s Party (NWP)
papers and traveled to Great Britain and Europe to trace Alice’s footsteps. As
she worked, Amelia regularly assisted other historians who were working on
the NWP or related topics. She often appeared at conferences and before other
interested audiences as she developed resources, living her commitment to the
legacy of Alice Paul. Her health failed as another new century dawned and the
progress of her book stalled. In 2005, I agreed to complete the biography of Alice
Paul’s early life and suffrage years, utilizing Amelia’s partial draft and research files.
Amelia Fry died in 2009.
Many people contributed to Amelia’s work. Corona Machemer, an editor
at Harper & Row, initiated the discussion of a biography and assisted Amelia
for many years. Amelia’s research assistants included Amy Butler, Susan Hines,
and Kristy Nishimoto. Amelia used the resources of the Sewall-Belmont House
and the Library of Congress extensively. Smithsonian curator Edie Mayo became
an important resource on Paul memorabilia. The late British filmmakers Midge
MacKenzie and Stephen Peet offered their knowledge and insight about the
Pankhursts and Edwardian England. Margaret Hope Bacon, the late historian of
Quakerism, became a touchstone for Quaker history and values. Paul relatives like
John and Anita Parry and Lew Robbins and wife Jean (now Stratton) volunteered
family photos and memories. Barbara Irvine, then of the Alice Paul Centennial
Foundation (APCF), provided early access to Paul’s personal papers and years of
viii Acknowledgments
moral support. Amelia’s husband, Rex Davis, supported her financially and emo-
tionally as she worked on the biography. After both Amelia and Rex died, her
sons Randy, Gary, and Byron championed the completion of the work.
My own interest in Alice Paul, which began in graduate school, was rekindled
in 1987 when I joined an ambitious and successful effort by the recently formed
APCF to purchase Paul’s private papers and memorabilia and donate them to the
Smithsonian Institution and Harvard’s Schlesinger Library. The APCF, now the
Alice Paul Institute, went on to purchase the former Paul family home in order to
create a leadership institute for women and girls.
I am indebted to many individuals though, of course, responsibility for any
errors is entirely my own. I thank each and every person who contributed to this
biography, including those who helped Amelia but whose names were lost over
time and other people I have inadvertently forgotten.
My greatest appreciation goes to the distinguished historian Linda K. Kerber,
once my thesis advisor, who encouraged my efforts and graciously introduced me
to publishers. Women’s history is thriving because of scholars like Linda doing
superior work of their own and sustaining other historians of women as well.
My longtime friend Barbara Irvine played this role on the activist side, sharing
her enthusiasm, experience, and contacts, and going out of her way to help this
project along.
Other friends and colleagues served as sounding boards. Early readers Betty
LaSorella and Julie Goldstein applauded my first drafts, and historian Betty
A. Bergland took time from her own work to read chapters and listen to my frus-
trations. Lucy Burns’s grand-niece, Janet Campbell Burns, kindly obliged all my
questions. Sidney R. Bland conversed with Amelia for years, initially about his
thesis, one of the first about the NWP; he kindly delved into his files at my request,
became another early reader, a reference, and eventually a valued colleague.
My siblings all contributed to this project. My sister Judy Voshell pitched in
to help with microfilm research. My brother Rick offered financial advice and an
ear to bend, while brother Bert found opportunities to publicize the book and
helped me sort out technological puzzles.
Historical accounts of the NWP and its leader paved the way for this book.
Most sources still cite Sidney Bland’s 1972 dissertation and subsequent article on
the 1913 parade; his article on Lucy Burns remains the best source of informa-
tion about her. Christine A. Lunardini brought her incisive political acuity to two
books about the NWP. Linda G. Ford’s examination of militancy drew attention
to the political and cultural diversity in the ranks of the NWP pickets. Ford inad-
vertently gave HBO producers the title for their docudrama on Alice Paul and
the NWP, Iron-Jawed Angels. While popularized to a fault, Angels nevertheless
introduced Alice Paul to millions.
Acknowledgments ix
Research librarians and curators are a godsend for historians. Sarah Hutcheon
and the staff at the Schlesinger Library were unfailingly helpful with the Alice
Paul Papers. Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director Nancy Cott and executive
director Marilyn Dunn obligingly gave me access to closed files on the library’s
history. Rhonda DiMascio and Lucy Beard, successive executive directors of the
Alice Paul Institute, offered Amelia’s files a home, and program director Kris
Myers patiently dug into her files to find photographs and answer queries. Edie
Mayo, now retired, and current curator Lisa Kathleen Graddy lent moral support
and enthusiastically walked me through the Alice Paul collection in the Political
History Division at the Smithsonian. Elspeth Kursh at the Sewall-Belmont House
and Museum tracked down photographs and copyrights. Christopher Densmore
of the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College unfailingly provided
details and tracked down obscure documents. Likewise, Nancy R. Miller of
Penn’s archives helped me pin down important details about Penn’s early gradu-
ate women. Ian C. Jackson, librarian at Woodbrooke, clarified my understand-
ing of the Quaker study center; his precedessors had opened their files to Amelia
Fry. The librarians and staff at the Moorestown Friends School also graciously
offered their records and expertise on Alice Paul and the school to both myself
and Amelia.
My research assistants completed the daunting and tedious microfilm work
for this book. The amazing Lin Salisbury scanned every page of the NWP records
between 1913 and 1920; Christine Manganaro efficiently examined a wide range
of other records. I am deeply appreciative of their diligence.
I often worked out ideas while lecturing about Alice Paul and women’s his-
tory to K–12 teachers for the American Institute for History Education (AIHE).
I thank Kevin T. Brady, AIHE president, for those opportunities and his support
of this project. I am grateful to my audiences for helping me refine the themes of
this book.
The New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the New Jersey
Department of State, generously supported the final stages of writing with a grant.
Once the book was in production, Molly Morrison expertly led me through
the process. Heather Hambleton’s careful eye for copyediting eased my review
considerably.
It was great good fortune that I was introduced to Nancy Toff, who became
my editor. Her ready interest in Alice Paul and willingness to advocate for a
focused political biography were essential to the completion of the book. She
insisted I clarify ideas and refine expressions to keep this book accessible. I am in
debt to her.
J. D. Z.