Alice Paul, Iron Jawed Angel, and the ERA

"I always feel....the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end."
-Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977)
Suffragist and author of the Equal Rights Amendment

HBO's "Iron Jawed Angels" A docudrama of the suffragist struggle includes a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged. The film also depicts Woodrow Wilson and his cronies trying to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. It is inspiring to watch the doctor admonish the men. “Alice Paul was strong and brave, but that didn't make her crazy. Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."

1913
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organize a major suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. with over 5,000 women attending. The mistreatment of the marchers by the crowd and the police led to a great public outcry and the event was a media coup for the suffragists.


The Equal Rights Amendment, first proposed in 1923, is still not part of the U.S. Constitution.
The ERA has been ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 states. When three more states vote yes, the ERA might become the 28th Amendment.

http://www.equalrightsamendment.org).
http://www.alicepaul.org/
http://www.hbo.com/films/ironjawedangels/community/