The greatest suffragists in history -

A historical movement for women's rights

Susan B. Anthony is likely the best known suffragist of her generation, traveling around the United States to give speeches, circulating petitions, and organizing local women's rights organizations.

Here are some facts about her, the movement she started, and the other women who helped her along the way. Click on!

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Susan B. Anthony’s legacy -

A key figure in the women's suffrage movement, Anthony started collecting anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17.

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States that love Susan B. Anthony -

Though not a federal holiday, Florida, California, Wisconsin, and New York celebrate Susan B. Anthony Day. Washington, D.C. has also commemorated the suffragist’s birthday for more than a century.

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Anthony’s 80th birthday in 1900 amassed a celebration for the history books -

She was seated in a queen’s chair at the Corcoran Art Gallery in D.C. where she shook hands for three hours.

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As an observer put it… - “There never has been before, and, in the nature of things, there can never be again, a personal celebration having the significance [in] relation to the woman suffrage movement that marked the celebration of Miss Anthony’s eightieth birthday, February 15.”

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A movement is born - The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. The seed that paved the way for the convention was planted eight years earlier when Elizabeth Cady Stanton met Lucretia Mott at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London.

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The movement - In 1851, Stanton met Anthony, a temperance worker, and together the two embarked on the long journey to secure the vote for women in the US.

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The Working Women’s Association - Starting in 1868, Anthony encouraged working women from the printing and sewing trades in New York to form Working Women's Associations, as they were excluded from men's trade unions.

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Anthony’s legacy - Through her position as a delegate to the National Labor Congress, Anthony persuaded the committee on female labor in 1868 to call for votes for women and equal pay for equal work.

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Meet the other suffragists - Anthony couldn’t have succeeded without the other courageous women she met along the way.

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Lucretia Mott (1793-1880) -

Mott was a teacher at the Nine Partners School in Dutchess County, NY. She became interested in women’s rights upon discovering that male teachers at the school were paid significantly more than female staff.

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Lucretia Mott (1793-1880) -

As one of the organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention, Mott has secured her place in history as one of the movement’s most important figures.

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Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) - Born into slavery, Truth escaped with her infant daughter in 1826. In 1828, she went to court to recover her son, becoming the first African-American woman to win such a case against a white man.

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Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) - Memorable quote: “Truth is powerful and it prevails.”

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Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) - Stanton was the principal author of the Declaration of Sentiments presented at the Seneca Falls Convention. The document is widely regarded as the kick off point for the first organized women's rights and women's suffrage movements in the US.

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Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) -

Stanton was a feminist through and through. She addressed women-related issues well beyond voting rights, including women's parental and custody rights, property rights, employment and income rights, divorce, the economic health of the family, and birth control. 

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Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) -

Notable quote: “The best protection any woman can have... is courage.”

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Lucy Stone (1818-1893) -

Stone, the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree, helped organize the 1850 National Women’s Right Convention, the first convention solely focused on women’s rights.

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Lucy Stone (1818-1893) -

Stone, along with Anthony and Stanton, was one of the three leading figures of the movement in the US during the 19th century.

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Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919) -

The American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war, and Civil War surgeon was the first and only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor. After the war, she worked as a writer and lecturer in support of the women's suffrage movement.

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Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927) - Woodhull ran for the presidency against Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 for the Equal Rights Party, becoming the first American woman to ever run for president.

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Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927) - Memorable quote: “I shall not change my course because those who assume to be better than I desire it.”

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Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927) - Alongside her on the ticket was none other than Frederick Douglass, the great African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman.

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Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) - She was an American poet and author, best known for writing the patriotic song ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic.’ Along with Lucy Stone, she became co-leader of the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1869.

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Harriot Stanton Blatch (1856-1940) - She was a US writer, suffragist, and the daughter of pioneering women's rights activist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

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Harriot Stanton Blatch (1856-1940) - Blatch organized and led the 1910 New York suffrage parade. Blatch’s intention was to reinvigorate the women’s movement, which had stagnated since her mother’s time.

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Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) -

Catt was one of the leading campaigners for the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to vote in 1920.

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Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) - Memorable quote: “No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.”

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Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) - Rankin became the nation’s first woman to hold federal office when she was elected to the US House of Representatives by the state of Montana in 1916, and again in 1940.

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Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) - Rankin was instrumental in initiating the legislation that translated into the 19th Constitutional Amendment, which granted women unrestricted voting rights.

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Fola La Follette (1882-1970) -

The daughter of lawyer and women's suffrage leader Belle Case La Follette, La Follette became engaged in the cause at an early age helping her mother. Through her acting career, she was able to make an impact by performing several times in the one-woman play ‘How the Vote was Won,' first in 1910, and again in 1912.

See also: When women were granted the right to vote around the world

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