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NJ Lawmaker Urges Congress To Posthumously Honor Ridgefield Suffragist

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. -- The fight for women's rights is almost as old as our country. But the women who led the way and are still doing so, aren't always recognized for their accomplishments. 

Sen. Diane Allen is sponsoring a resolution that urges Congress to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to New Jersey native Alice Paul.

Sen. Diane Allen is sponsoring a resolution that urges Congress to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to New Jersey native Alice Paul.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia.commons

That's why New Jersey state Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington) is urging Congress to recognize women's rights heroine the late Alice Paul, a New Jersey native and longtime Ridgefield resident.

Allen is sponsoring a resolution -- that just passed the New Jersey Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee -- to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Paul in recognition of her role in leading the women’s suffrage movement and in advancing equal rights for women.

“Alice Paul is a national hero and someone whom I’ve always admired,” Allen said. “She fought tirelessly her entire life to secure equal rights for women. Her legacy is something we treasure here in New Jersey, and I hope Congress sees that it is something worth honoring.”

Paul, founder of the National Woman's Party, and one of the women who will be on the new $10 bill, was born in 1885 in Mount Laurel, N.J., to a prominent Quaker family. She became a leader in the women’s suffrage movement in the early 1900s. Through her decades of activism, she picketed the White House and the U.S. Capitol, in an effort to help win suffrage for women and was a key player in the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in 1920. 

Once women won the right to vote, Paul continued to work to achieve equality. In 1923 she authored an amendment that would later be named the Equal Rights Amendment, which also became known as the Alice Paul Amendment, sadly, still has yet to be ratified, Allen said.

Paul, who lived in Ridgefield during the last years of her life, continued to be a vocal leader in the women’s equality movement until her death in 1977. (Click here to read more at Daily Voice about Alice Paul's life in Ridgefield.)

She helped to draft more than 600 pieces of legislation through the National Woman's Party. She was arrested seven times, thrown in jail three times and was force-fed in prison when she refused to eat.

Her legacy lives on at her family’s home in Mount Laurel, N.J., which now serves as the headquarters for the Alice Paul Institute, a not-for-profit organization that works to fulfill her lifelong dream of equality for women with special emphasis on developing future female leaders. She is also a member of the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame, and the New Jersey Hall of Fame, which she was inducted into in 2010. 

“Alice Paul is one of the most accomplished residents in the history of New Jersey, man or woman,” Allen said. “Being able to say she’s from my state, and the district I am privileged to represent, is a huge source of personal pride, and I know there are many more who feel the same. Her leadership and courage continue to be a driving force in the women’s rights movement in this state and beyond.”

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