General Notes

Anthony, Susan B(rownell) (1820-1906), outstanding American reformer, who
led the struggle to gain the vote for women. She devoted 50 years to
overcoming the nation's resistance to woman suffrage, but died before the
19th Amendment was adopted (August 26, 1920).

Early Life

Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, in the village of Adams,
Massachusetts, the second of eight children. In 1827 her family moved to
Battenville, New York, and in 1845 settled permanently in Rochester, New
York. Encouraged by her father, a onetime schoolteacher, Anthony began
teaching school when she was 15 years old and continued until the age of 30.

A liberal Quaker and dedicated radical reformer, Anthony opposed the use of
liquor and advocated the immediate end of slavery. From 1848 to 1853 she
took part in the temperance movement and from 1856 to 1861 worked for the
American Anti-Slavery Society, organizing meetings and frequently giving
lectures. In 1863, during the American Civil War, she founded the Women's
Loyal League to fight for emancipation of the slaves. After the end of
Reconstruction she protested the violence inflicted on blacks and was one of
the few to urge full participation of blacks in the woman suffrage movement.

Fight for Women's Rights

Anthony's work for women's rights began in 1851, when she met Elizabeth Cady
Stanton. From 1854 to 1860 the two concentrated on reforming New York State
laws discriminating against women. Anthony organized women all over the
state to campaign for legal reforms. She would often deliver speeches
written by Stanton, who was occupied with her young children.

Anthony and Stanton became convinced that women would not gain their rights
or be effective in promoting reforms until they had the vote, and nationwide
suffrage became their goal after the Civil War. In 1869 they organized the
National Woman Suffrage Association to work for a constitutional amendment
giving women that right. Although the newly freed slaves were granted the
vote by the 15th Amendment, women of all races continued to be excluded.
From 1868 to 1870 Anthony and Stanton published a newspaper, Revolution,
focused on injustices suffered by women. To dramatize her fight, Anthony
defiantly registered and cast a ballot in the 1872 presidential election
and, when arrested and convicted, refused to pay the $100 fine. She went to
Europe in 1883, met women's rights activists there, and in 1888 helped form
the International Council of Women, representing 48 countries. At the age of
80 she resigned as president of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association, but she continued to be a regular speaker at its conventions
until her death in Rochester, New York, on March 13, 1906.

Evaluation

Anthony always acknowledged Stanton as the founder of the women's rights
movement. Her own achievement lay in her inspiration and perseverance in
bringing together vast numbers of people of both sexes around the single
goal of the vote. On July 2, 1979, the U.S. Mint honored her work by issuing
the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin.