Liberation in History: Hero Susan B. Anthony
March is Women’s History Month, so today we celebrate Susan B. Anthony, a determined liberator who championed women’s rights and fought for women’s equality under the law.
Unlike other women of her generation, Anthony didn’t fall into line with what was acceptable female behavior for a woman born in 1820. As a child, she was said to have a “forceful personality,” and later as a teacher in the 1850s, she spoke out on unpopular issues such as equal pay for women teachers and better educational opportunities for girls.
She started the Daughters of Temperance organization, not so much as a protest against alcohol, but she recognized the damage that occurred to women and children who lived with hard-drinking men. She was arrested for attempting to register to vote in Rochester NY as she continued to fight for women’s full legal and social equality.
She once remarked, “It has always been thought perfectly womanly to be a scrubwoman in the Legislature and take care of the spittoons; that is entirely within the charmed circle of woman’s sphere: but for women to occupy any of those official seats would be degrading.”
In her fight to liberate women and girls from the constraints of the oppressive social norms of her time, Susan B. Anthony paved the way for today’s women to hold positions in board rooms, in government, and to have an equal voice in their own homes.
Read more about Susan B. Anthony in the Americans Who Tell the Truth exhibit here.
Well Street
Thank you for sharing this informative and powerful biography.
Heeding the call to fight for women's rights, especially in the 1800s, was beyond forward-thinking and courageous. Facing constant pushback and rebuke for her convictions yet pressing on is the stuff heroines are made of.
History wasn't my best subject in school, but Susan B. Anthony's story was a memorable stand-out.
Slipstream
Susan B. Anthony was a trailblazer that's for sure. She knew how powerful she was and was brave enough to demonstrate it. I believe she would be tremendously elated to see how far women have come and horrified that the freedom she, and so many others, fought hard for is being taken away piece by piece. Today's women should take a lesson from this brave woman and push back against the extremists who want to take women back to the 1800s.