Susan B. Anthony: A Woman Who Wanted Her Voice to be Heard

During a time when women could not vote or do simple things like have a job, a woman stands out. This person was Susan B. Anthony. Susan B Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts into a very politically active family. Since her family were quakers, she grew up in a family where the belief that everyone is equal under god was very prevalent. She was the second oldest of 8 children. She developed a very strong moral compass early on which would go on to help her become very successful later in her life. When her father’s business failed in the 1830’s, she moved home and became a teacher.

They then moved to Rochester, New York in 1845, and advocated and fought for women’s right and equalities and the abolishment of slavery along with the temperance movement. Her family would hold meetings at their farm every Sunday sometimes being met with Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. In 1851, Ms. Anthony went to an anti-slavery convention and met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Elizabeth would later go on with Susan to take on women’s rights as well as temperance. In 1863, she organized a Women’s National Loyal League which advocated for the 13th amendment but also pushed for full citizenship for everyone regardless of race. When she tried to speak at a convention for temperance, she was denied because she was a female. It was during this time that she realized that she wanted to fight for the women’s right to vote. She would go on to team up with many other women to fight for their rights.

She would travel to different places in the country to publicly speak out to further help their efforts. She even tried to vote in the 1872 election illegally and was caught and tried. When she was fined 100$, she left and never paid it. In 1877 she got petitions from 26 different states with over 10,000 signatures to try to gain the right to vote for women. She took these to Congress who did nothing. Ms. Anthony would go before every Congress between 1869 - 1906 before she would die. In 1892, she became the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). She would hold this role until 1900 when she retired making great strides in the fight for women’s suffrage. Her work would go on to help create the 19th Amendment.

Susan B. Anthony died in March of 1906 having not seen anything be changed. It wasn’t until 14 years after her death that the 19th amendment was put into place. The 19th amendment guaranteed that the right to vote will not be infringed upon because of someone's gender. This is a very important amendment because now the ball is rolling for major change and reforms to happen. Because of all of her hard work, the government put Ms. Anthony’s face on the dollar coin in recognition of what she had done. It wasn’t until 20 years after she had died but she was still the first woman to be recognized in that way. All that she has done has greatly changed and reformed the way our country is today. Without her, simple rights that people have now would either be non-existant or would have taken longer to change then what did. Because of her, our country is stronger and more unified.