Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument

In 2018, I visited the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument in Washington D.C., one of the newer additions to the National Park System at the time. In my pursuit to visit as many National Park historic sites as possible, I often made a point of seeing them soon after they were designated. When Belmont-Paul came under the care of the Department of the Interior, I knew it was a place I wanted to see for its historical significance.

The monument, placed under federal protection by President Obama in 2016, preserves the longtime headquarters of the National Woman’s Party. This organization played a decisive role in the women’s suffrage movement and the push for equal rights. Its name honors two of the movement’s most influential figures: Alva Belmont and Alice Paul.

Alva Belmont, a wealthy social reformer and philanthropist, used her resources to support the suffrage movement. She purchased and maintained the house which ensured that the activists had a permanent place to meet, organize and strategize.  It was her financial backing that helped sustain the work and kept the movement alive.

Alice Paul was the brilliant strategist of the National Woman’s Party that lived and worked in the house for decades. It was here that she organized the first pickets of the White House, drafted the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923 and led campaigns for legal equality long after the 19th Amendment was won.  

The rooms are full of banners carried during protests, photographs and stories of women imprisoned for demanding their constitutional rights. Belmont-Paul was the nerve center of the movement for women’s rights. It stands for those that refused to accept limited roles and organized relentlessly to push the nation forward.