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Sofía Bohórquez

January 03, 2023

Introduction

Who was Susan Brownell Anthony? Susan was an activist born on February 15, 1820, in Adams

Massachusetts, these are the basic facts, but who was she and what made her go up in history

forever? Susan began her activism at a very young age, at 17 she had already collected signatures

to end slavery, and then she found the path to which she would dedicate her life, women's rights,

Susan dedicated her life to making sure that women could vote, left the path to make the legal

vote for women a reality. This biography recounts the events in the life of Susan B Anthony, her

purposes, her accomplishments, and her challenges. And the events in her life that led her to

become one of the most important activists in history.

Susan Brownell Anthony

Susan Brownell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams Massachusetts, she was the

second of 7 brothers and sisters, her father, Daniel was a farmer who later became the owner and

manager of a cotton factory and was raised as a quaker and her mother Lucy came from a family

that fought in the American Revolution and served in the Massachusetts state government, Susan

from a very young age was inspired by the Quaker belief ‘’everyone was equal under God’’ and

she took this as the law of her life, many of her brothers were also activists for justice and

emancipation of slaves..
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When Susan moved to New York State she met William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass,

they were friends of her father, Frederick and William inspired her to do more to help eradicate

slavery in the world and became a abolition activist, Susan had to face a lot of challenges since

several people thought it that it was improper for a woman to give speeches in public even more

if they were revolutionary or different from the mentality that was used to, but these criticisms

only motivated her to continue and with greater reason to change the mindset of society even

though she often risked arrest for sharing her ideals in public.

After dedicating her time and intelligence to eradicate slavery, Susan found a new fight, a new

purpose and without knowing, the reason why in the future she would be immortalized in history

forever. In 1851, Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanon who would become her partner in the

quest to enforce women's rights and a great friend, Susan and Elizabeth worked for 50 years or

so traveling all over the country demanding that women had the right to vote. Susan was a very

disciplined person, her energy and her ability to organize made her an ideal leader and a leader

with unstoppable strength. Anthony and Stanon co-founded the American Equal Rights

Association, in 1868 they became editors of Association's newspaper, The revolution, this

newspaper was fundamental in the spread of the ideas of equality and rights for women,

Anthony became famous in all over the country many people admired her and supported her

ideas but also there were people who hated the ideas she was promoting.

There was a moment in 1866 in which Susan felt more inspired and strong for her cause, in that

year the congress passed the 14th and the 15th amendment in which Afro American men were

given the right to vote what was an advance, the problem was that they only gave the right to

men and not women, for which Anthony and Stanon opposed the legislation and for this they

formed the National Woman's Suffrage Association, and thus make the constitution give women
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the right to vote. In 1869 Anthony called the first Woman Suffrage Convention in Washington

DC. Susan had a big risk of being arrests when she gave her speeches with quite advanced topics

for the time, and for a while this did not happen. Susan got arrested but she was not giving a

speech in fact they arrested her for voting when it was not yet legal to vote, they did not imprison

her but they did give her a fine of 100 Dollars, she refused to pay and never in her lifetime payed

that fine. After all she did for women, she was still not satisfied with her work so in 1900

Anthony promised the cash value of her life insurance to meet the financial demands for the

University of Rochester to accept female admissions. Susan was committed to the fight to give

women a vote, she fought against slavery, she fought for the education of women, among others.

In 1905 she had a meeting with President Theodore Roosevelt in Washington, D.C., about

submitting a suffrage amendment to Congress, in 1906 Anthony attended suffrage hearings in

Washington, D.C., and it was there that she gave her famous and representative speech "Failure

is Impossible" and it was on her 86th birthday celebration. After a lifetime of struggle and

support for many causes Susan Brownell Anthony died in her home on Madison street on March

13. 14 years after her death the 19th amendment was approved and incorporated into the U.S.

Constitution, already known as the Susan B. Anthony amendment, which guarantees that all

women 21 years of age or older can vote, so it is thanks to Susan B. Anthony that fight until she

died and women like Stanon who supported it, that women enjoy independence now and as she

said in her phrase '' Independence is happiness '' all women are free and independent and

therefore happy.

Conclusion

Susan Brownell Anthony achieved all this accomplishments because of her strength and her faith

towards a thought ‘’everyone is equal under God '' Anthony fought until the day of her death so
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that women could have a valid and powerful role in society, she fought so that woman had a

voice when fighting to make voting legal, she fought so that woman could contribute to the

world with their intelligence and potentials by financing with her life insurance to the university

of rochester to admit women, fought for African Americans to have a place just as worthy as

others by fighting to stop slavery, so ho was Susan Brownell Anthony? Susan was a defender of

human rights, she was a person who believed in equality, a person who did not discriminate

based on gender, skin color, religion or beliefs, Susan was a person who believed in the world, a

person who without hesitation left a better world forever, and definitely as she said in her phrase

'' I had rather ... make history than write it '' Susan made history and faced one of the biggest

problems that her society had.

Work Cited https://www.interexchange.org/articles/career-training-usa/5-facts-about-susan-b-

anthony/

Kington, Ani. ‘’5 important facts about Susan B. Anthony’’ InterExchange. July 23,2012

https://susanb.org/her-life/

The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House. ‘’Her Life’’ The National Susan B. Anthony

Museum & House.

https://feminismoinc.org/2017/02/discurso-de-susan-b-anthony-son-las-mujeres-personas.html

Anthony, Susan (primary source). ‘’The Right of Woman to Vote’’. Feminismo Inc.

https://underthebluedoor.org/2013/06/20/id-rather-make-history-than-write-it-susan-b-anthony/

Anthony, Susan (primary source).‘’I’d rather make history than write it’’. Underbluedoor. June

20, 2013.
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