February 15th marks the 200th birthday
of Susan B. Anthony. She was an American social reformer in the fight for
temperance, abolition and labor equality. She is better known a women’s rights
activist who played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement. She would
spend over forty years, crisscrossing the country fighting for racial reforms
as well as women’s reforms. While already well known, she would be brought to
great fame and notoriety after she was arrested for voting in the 1872
Presidential Election. Her trial. The United States versus Susan B Anthony
(1873) would be another platform for her to make her case for women’s rights. She
left behind a legacy of leadership and a passion to stand up against adversity.
Susan Bronwell Anthony was born February 15, 1820 to Daniel
and Lucy (nee Read) Anthony in Adams, Massachusetts as the second of seven
children. As a Quaker family, they were passionate for social reform. Although
Mr. Anthony would often be at odds with the traditionalist Quaker congregation
as he married a non-Quaker. He encouraged Susan as well as all his children to
be self-supporting, teaching them business principles and giving them
responsibility at a young age. At 17, Susan was sent to a Quaker boarding
school but left after one term as the family hit hard times with the Panic of
1837. She would begin teaching at a Quaker school in order to assist her
family. After the family moved to Rochester, New York in 1845, her father
helped form the Congregational Friends with other Quaker social reformers in
1848. There she would meet Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) who would become her
lifelong friend. In 1851, she would meet Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) and
the two would be the dynamic duo for the women’s rights movement. Susan had the
organization skills and Elizabeth excelled at the writing. Together, they would
start a weekly newspaper, The Revolution, in 1868, with it’s motto “Men, their
rights and nothing more: women, their rights and nothing less.” She would work
until her death on March 13, 1906 at the age of 86. Although we would not live
to see the women’s suffrage on the national level (the 19th
Amendment would be ratified in 1920), she expressed pride at the progress made.
Ms. Anthony was arrested on November 18, 1872 and charged
with illegal voting. Her arrest would generate a national controversy. Her
trial would begin on June 17, 1873 during which she made the speech entitled,
“Is it a Crime for a US Citizen to Vote?” In it, she makes the argument that as
citizens of the United States, women have the right to vote and uses the US
Constitution to illustrate her point. “It was we, the people; not we, the white
male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who
formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but
to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but
to the whole people- women as well as men.” She also uses the same logic for
women’s suffrage as given for the freed slaves in the 13th
Amendment. “Every discrimination against women in the constitutions and laws of
the several states is today null and void, precisely as is every one against
Negroes.” She would be ordered to pay a $100 fine, which she said, “I shall
never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.” She never did. It remains unpaid in
the courthouse ledger (Rosenthal, 2017).
She left behind an amazing legacy. Anthony, Stanton and
others formed the National Woman Suffrage Association in May 1869. That
organization still thrives today as it transformed to be the League of Women
Voters (League of Women Voters). She demonstrated leadership in many ways.
Through devotion to her cause, seizing the opportunity when it presented itself
and refused to be intimidated by those in power when fighting for her rights
(DeMarco, 2016). She developed a reputation for fearlessness in the face of
adversity and controversy. She would wear the Bloomer dress (a controversial style
in which pantaloons were worn under a knee length dress) for a time in 1851.
She would stop when the focus became her dress and not her ideas. To celebrate
her contribution to the suffrage movement, the women of Rochester, New York
make a pilgrimage to her grave every election day and place their “I Voted”
stickers on her gravestone (Rosenthal, 2017). Her life and work is a great
testimony to righting wrong and opening the doors of opportunity through
education and defending one’s rights.
In conclusion, Susan B. Anthony was a woman of great passion
for her causes. While she is remembered for her fight for women’s suffrage, she
also fought for full citizenship for freed slaves, labor equality and overall
women’s rights as full citizens of the United States. She is the first woman to
be minted on US currency when the Susan B Anthony dollar was first minted in
1979. While this year marks her 200th birthday, it is also extra
special as this year also marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th
Amendment. Due to her and others commitment to the fight for suffrage, myself
and generations of women can cast their votes and have their voices heard.
References
DeMarco, Peter (November 18, 2016). Leader Time: 6 key
lessons from the legacy of Susan B. Anthony. https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/growth-strategies/2016/11/6-key-lessons-from-the-legacy-of-susan-b-anthony.html.
Retrieved February 10, 2020.
League of Women Voters. https://www.lwv.org/about-us/history.
Retrieved February 11, 2020.
The National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House. www.susanb.org. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
Rosenthal, Peggy (August 22, 2017). Susan B. Anthony:
Failure is Impossible. https://imagejournal.org/2017/08/22/susan-b-anthony-failure-impossible/.
Retrieved February 10, 2020.
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