1
Life was very different for women before the
1900's. They had almost no rights, much like slaves. Money they earned
was usually paid to their husbands. They were not allowed to vote. Many
women wanted to make changes, but it did not really begin to happen
until a woman by the name of Susan B. Anthony stepped into the picture.
2 Susan
was born on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts. Parents who
were social activists raised her in a strict Quaker home. She was not
allowed to play with toys or games or have music. Her father did not
want his children distracted by things which were not important.
3 Young
Susan was very bright, learning to read and write when she was just
three years old. When she was six, her family moved to Battensville,
New York. There she attended the local public school, until the teacher
refused to teach her long division. Susan's father set up a school at
home for his daughters. Mary Perkins taught it. This teacher gave Susan
and her sisters an example of an independent, educated woman.
4 Susan
eventually attended a boarding school in Philadelphia and then taught
school for a time before moving back to her parent's home in Rochester,
New York. It was from there that she began her own activist career on
behalf of the Abolitionists and Temperance. Abolitionists wanted
slavery to be ended, and Temperance was a movement to help people
reduce or stop drinking alcohol. Susan's
family had been long-time supporters of the Abolitionists. She knew or
met many of its leaders, including Frederick Douglass and William L.
Garrison.
5
When
Susan became more involved in the Temperance movement, she found she
had a problem. As a woman, she was not allowed to get up and speak at
rallies where men were in attendance. This was a source of great
frustration to her and other female activists.
6 In
1854 Susan devoted most of her time to the Abolitionist cause and
became an agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society. She was
threatened by hostile mobs, had a doll dressed like her hung in public,
and her image was
dragged through the streets. After the Civil War, from 1868-1870, she
and Elizabeth Stanton produced a weekly paper called "The Revolution."
In it, she advocated an eight-hour workday and equal pay for equal work.
7
In
1872 Susan began demanding the same civil and political rights for
women that had been extended to blacks in the 14th and 15th amendments.
She was arrested when she tried to vote in a presidential election.
When she was convicted of breaking the law, she successfully refused to
pay the fine, which was her punishment. From that point on she worked
tirelessly.
8
Between
1881 and 1902 Susan and others published four of the six volumes of
History of Woman Suffrage. By the 1890's people stopped laughing at her
and finally began to respect what she was working for.
10 In
spite of all her hard work and efforts over the years, Susan died in
1906 without seeing the result she wanted so much. It was not until
1920 that the 19th amendment was passed, which gave American women the
right to vote. Her contribution to helping women get the vote was
honored in 1979 with her image on a one-dollar coin. She was the first
woman to be so honored in the United States.
11 When
Susan B. Anthony was young, women had few legal rights. Through the
efforts of her and many others like her, women can get a higher
education, work at almost any job, own property, hold public office,
and vote. She helped to make the world a better place, and it is still
felt
today.
