Alice was a major participant in the fight for women’s suffrage and one of the most critical players in the push for the 19th Amendment, which allowed women the right to vote. She was founder and leader of the National Women’s Party (NWP) and is credited with the drafting of the Equal Rights Amendment, as described in the “American National Biography.”

She graduated in 1905 from Swarthmore, majoring, unlike most women of her time, in biology. As a Swarthmore student, Paul was involved in a variety of activities, including being a member of the hockey team, the class basketball team, the athletic council and the executive board of student government. Coming from a Quaker heritage and stepping well beyond the typical education of a woman in her day and age, Paul not only attended Swarthmore College, but also went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania and Washington College of Law and American University. However, it was not until Paul went abroad to England that she grew heavily involved in the suffragist movement, campaigning with the Women’s Social and Political Union.