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The Point of Divergence
The POD of this project is the assasination of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, which will result in the pushing back of women's voting rights to 1920. Alice Paul was chair of a major committee
(congressional) of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
within a year, in her mid-twenties, but a year later (1913) Alice Paul and
others withdrew from the NAWSA to form the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage. T In 1912, Lucy and Alice Paul began a battle for passage of a constitutional amendment to guarantee women the right to vote in the United States. In 1913, they created the Congressional Union for Women's Suffrage, three years later it became the National Women's Party. Lucy helped organize political campaigns, was the editor of the Suffragist, and spent time in jail for her work in Washington D.C. She used chalk to write messages supporting voting rights for women and during World War I she demonstrated against President Wilson in front of the White House. Lucy was arrested six times and spent more time in jail than any other American suffragist. Lucy Burns and Alice Burns were powerful speakers.
How Did Alice Paul and Lucy Burns Die in the POD?
In January 1917, the NWP had their first political protest to picket the White House . The picketers, known as "Silent Sentinels," held banners demanding the right to vote.. In July 1917, the picketers were arrested on charges of "obstructing traffic." Many women, including Paul and Burns, were convicted and incarcerated at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia (later the Lorton Correctional Complex) and the District of Columbia Jail. Here is when Alice Paul and Lucy Burns die in the Point of Divergence. Their death was cause by a gun shot, in which a police officer shot Alice and Lucy due to their resistance to arrest. In result, many of women were afraid to protest against the 19th amendment and protesting ceased.
