Lucy Burns

Lucy Burns was born in Brooklyn, New York City on July 28, 1879. She attended the Packer Collegiate Institute. After attending Packer Collegiate Institute, she was educated at Columbia University, Vassar College, and Yale University. After her education, she became a high school English teacher in Brooklyn. Following being an English teacher, she moved to Europe. In Germany, she continued her education, studying at University of Bonn and Berlin. She then moved to the UK, where she studied at Oxford University.

During her education in the United Kingdom, she met Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia, who were prominent social activists and suffragists. She discontinued her education to focus on voting rights and social activism. She created a newsletter called Votes for Women. Later, she was employed by the Women's Social and Political Union as an organizer.

Following Burns' moving back to the United States, she and Alice Paul, went on to lead the Congressional Committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Burns and Paul soon founded a new organization, known as the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, which later became the National Woman's Party. Over her course of activism, Burns was arrested numerous times and endured harsh and punitive treatment in prison.

Burns retired from activism after the Nineteenth Amendment was passed. She passed away on December 22, 1977 in Brooklyn, New York