At this year’s State of the Union, many of the more than 80 Democratic congresswomen wore white to pay homage to the suffragists. Among the historic leaders they were honoring was Alice Paul, who led a group of thousands through Washington a century ago to fight for the right for women to vote. Paul also paved the way for the Equal Rights Amendment — a guarantee of civil rights, regardless of gender — which passed in Congress in 1972, but is still awaiting ratification nearly 50 years later.
The ongoing fight for those rights and the women who paved the road are at the center of two new books by local authors: “Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait?: Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson, and the Fight for the Right to Vote,” by Tina Cassidy, and “She The People: A Graphic History of Uprisings, Breakdowns, Setbacks, Revolts, and Enduring Hope on the Unfinished Road to Women's Equality,” by Jen Deaderick.
