Meet the Woman of the Past That Shaped the Lives of Woman Today by Sabina Petersen

Susan B. Anthony

s1petersen — 2024-03-10 20:49:38 UTC

This is Susan B. Anthony (1820-1960) who was one of the most notable suffragettes of the nineteenth century. Anthony traveled around the country delivering speeches in favor of women's rights despite it being considered improper for women to give speeches in public at this time. Anthony pushed for progressive and inclusive national legislation and did not fear that her views opposed the majority of the population during this time period. Anthony was even arrested for her efforts, but that only brought more attention to Anthony's fight for women's rights. Anthony's speeches are still today some of the strongest parts of her legacy and reflect the passion she held for women's rights.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

s1petersen — 2024-03-10 21:08:10 UTC

Meet Elizabeth Cody Stanton (1815-1902) who is credited with creating the agenda that was a crucial part of why the women's suffrage movement was successful. Stanton and Anthony met in 1851 and formed a partnership. Together the two collaborated on speeches with Stanton writing them and then Anthony delivering them. Stanton is most famous for the multiple books she wrote and published, before women won the right to vote, full of collections of testaments of individual and local activism as well as an autobiography.

Alice Paul

s1petersen — 2024-03-11 03:47:19 UTC

Alice Paul was born in New Jersey in 1885. Paul attended Swarthmore College and then proceeded to earn her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1910. Paul traveled to England where she met Lucy Burns and from there she decided to join the women's suffrage movement. Paul is known for her militant tactics throughout the movement. These tactics included picketing, hunger strikes, and more. Paul campaigned for women's rights by going state by state sharing her sentiments for equality. Paul even led a picket in Washington, DC where approximately eight thousand woman participated. Paul is still revered today for how she spent her life championing for women's rights. Paul led some of the largest protests throughout the nineteenth century US suffrage movement. The militant techniques that Paul utilized also revolutionized the movement and achieved incredible results.

Lucy Stone

s1petersen — 2024-03-20 21:55:33 UTC

This is Lucy Stone (1818-1893). Stone dedicated her whole life towards fighting for equality. Her drive for equality was reflected in all aspects of her life. Even in her marriage vows she displayed how she saw herself as an equal to her husband. This was also why she did not take her husband's last name which was unusual for the time. Stone was also involved in the abolitionist movement and wrote and gave speeches about this topic. Through her work on the abolitionist front Stone also began to be more involved in the suffrage movement. Stone organized the first national Women's Rights Convention in Massachusetts. Here, she gave multiple speeches that were eventually reprinted in the international press which helped spread her message. Stone shared her passion for the women's suffrage movement with her daughter and they both of them went on to be prominent figures in the suffrage movement.

Sojourner Truth

s1petersen — 2024-03-20 21:56:47 UTC

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) was a formerly enslaved woman who became an advocate for abolition, the civil rights movement, and women's suffrage movement. Truth met Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and quickly rose to notoriety in the suffrage movement. Truth is remembered for many of her infamous speeches where she drew attention to gender inequality especially in African American communities. Truth was even invited to the White House where she was able to influence legislation that changed the course of American history.

Sojourner Truth's Speech- "Ain't I a Woman"

s1petersen — 2024-03-20 23:52:56 UTC

Sojourner Truth gave this famous speech at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851. In this speech Truth called attention to how connected the fight for gender and race was. Truth advocated for attention to both women's suffrage as well as women's civil rights. While there were many prominent suffragettes in the nineteenth century, Truth is unique in that she had two central focuses. This was an incredibly effective and influential speech and after Truth delivered it many more began to support the idea of intersectionality between gender and race equality.

Alice Paul Describing a Hunger Strike

s1petersen — 2024-03-20 23:56:00 UTC

This is a primary source of a newspaper clipping where Alice Paul describes what is was like to be force fed. This happened while Paul was in a prison in England, but Paul took the militant techniques she learned and practiced in the UK and applied them in the states. In this source Paul describes truly how inhumane the process of being force fed was. The severity of Pauls suffrage strategies drew attention to her cause and also demonstrate just how committed she was to fighting for the right to vote.

Transcript of Hearing After Anthony's Arrest for Voting in an Election

s1petersen — 2024-03-21 00:05:21 UTC

On November 5, 1872 Anthony along with 14 other women voted in an US election that was to elect members of Congress. Anthony knew that she was not legally allowed to vote, but she did not let this stop her from taking a role in choosing her political representation, so she voted nonetheless. Anthony was arrested and charged with voting for members of the U.S. House of Representatives “without having a lawful right to vote,” a violation of section 19 of the Enforcement Act of 1870. The primary source above is a picture of Anthony's hearing transcript. Anthony was found guilty, but her arrest brought attention to the nineteenth women's suffrage movement.

Elizabeth Cody Stanton Speech- "Declaration of Sentiments"

s1petersen — 2024-03-21 00:09:28 UTC

Elizabeth Cady Stanton gave this speech in July of 1848 in front of over three hundred people that were in Seneca Falls, New York, for the nation’s first women’s rights convention. This became an infamous speech in the suffrage movement where Stanton protested women's inferior legal status in the US. Stanton continued on in her speech to name eleven resolutions to find gender equality.

Lucy Stone's Speech Published in the Woman Suffrage Leaflet

s1petersen — 2024-03-21 00:21:23 UTC

At the Fortieth Anniversary of the First National Woman's Rights Convention Lucy Stone gave a speech about the progress in the women's suffrage movement in the past forty years. Stone delivered this speech in Boston, Massachusetts in January of 1891. In this speech Stone highlighted the progress that had been made, but also called out all the work that still needed to be done. Stone mentioned the need to fight for women's education among many other rights. This speech is unique in that it is positive in some ways as some progress had been made, but Stone is also conveying the message of how much more work needed to be done in the fight for true gender equality.