“Kaiser Wilson. Have you forgotten your sympathy with the poor Germans because they were not self governed? Twenty million American women are not self-governed. Take the beam out of your own eye.” She held up the picket with these words, marking the beginning of an uprising that would change womens’ lives forever. She dared to challenge the president during World War II, even with the danger of imprisonment, injury, and irreversible injustice.

The girl was thrown harshly into a dark, musty prison cell infested with rodents carrying contagious bacteria. Her followers suffered alongside her in immeasurably frigid conditions. Even still, they fought on with humanity and hunger strikes. Distraught family members shed tears, anxiously awaiting their release and safety. President Woodrow Wilson, shocked after hearing this torturous news, finally decided to support the suffrage amendment—the nineteenth—and allow women to vote.

This is why I would like to meet Alice Paul. She fought for equal rights with undying strength, stamina, and determination. She displayed courage that only a true activist could. She was aware of what she was fighting for and she was willing to do anything possible to get there. Alice Paul never allowed herself to give up.