Raised in an area founded by her Quaker ancestors, Alice and her family remained devoted observers of the faith. As Hicksite Friends, the Paul family adhered to Quaker traditions of simplicity and plain speech (replacing you and yours with “thee” and “thy” when talking with other Quakers). Alice attended a Hicksite school in Moorestown, New Jersey, and graduated first in her class in 1901. Hicksite Friends endorsed the concept of gender equality as a central tenet of their religion and a societal norm of Quaker life. As Paul noted years later, “When the Quakers were founded…one of their principles was and is equality of the sexes. So I never had any other idea…the principle was always there.” Growing up among Quakers, who believed men and women were equal, meant Alice’s childhood environment was something of an anomaly for the time period. This upbringing undoubtedly accounts for the many Quaker suffragists including Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott, both whom Paul admired and considered role-models. Alice’s faith not only established the foundation for her belief in equality but also provided a rich legacy of activism and service to country.

“When the Quakers were founded…one of their principles was and is equality of the sexes. So I never had any other idea…the principle was always there.”

-Alice Paul-interview, 1974

Alice’s relationship to Swarthmore College began long before she entered as a student in 1901. Her grandfather, Judge William Parry, was one of the founders of the co-educational school in 1864. He believed in the idea that men and women should receive an equal, Quaker-inspired education and he sent his youngest and only daughter Tacie to Swarthmore in 1878.

Unfortunately, Tacie Parry had to drop out in 1881, one year short of graduation, when she married William Paul (married women were not allowed to attend school. Tacie promised that her children would attend Swarthmore for at least one year to experience the value of a Quaker education. Though each of her four children took classes at the college, it was her eldest daughter Alice who stayed for four years graduating with a degree in Biology. At Swarthmore, Alice was taught by some of the leading female academics of the day, including mathematics professor Susan Cunningham, who was one of the first women to be admitted to the American Mathematics Associate. Cunningham, was noted on campus for her admonition, “Use thy gumption”. These words may have emboldened Paul when she picketed the White House and went on hunger strike. While in college, she used her “gumption” to participate in a variety of sports including field hockey, tennis and basketball.

She was a member of the Executive Board of Student Government, was named Ivy Poetess and served as a commencement speaker. Alice’s father, William Paul (who died unexpectedly during her second year at Swarthmore), once said of his eldest daughter, “Well, when there is a job to be done, I bank on Alice”. He spoke these words while Paul was still in college and they provide a hint to Paul’s character even before the age of 21. In the college’s yearbook, Halcyon, she was dubbed, “An open-hearted maiden, true and pure”. When this open hearted, open minded student graduated from Swarthmore in 1905, she may not have known what lay ahead, but she did expect to make a contribution to society.

