A womens rights activist Susan B. Anthony - Free Essay Example

Susan B. Anthony was a womens rights activist and one of the most visible leaders of the womens suffrage movement. She helped to form and later lead, the National American Womens Suffrage Association. She traveled around the country giving speeches and gathering signatures on petitions. She was born in 1820 to a Quaker family, and was raised with the Quaker belief that everyone was equal under God, an idea that guided her through most of her life. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. Her Quaker raised father, Daniel, was a farmer and later a cotton mill owner and manager. Her mother, Lucy, came from a family that fought in the American Revolution and served in the Massachusetts government. Anthony had seven siblings, many of which ended up becoming social activists. After teaching for many years, Susan returned to her family where she met important activists, William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass who were friends of her father. They inspired her to become an abolition activist and Anthony gave many passionate speeches against slavery (Susan). Anthony and her family became involved in the fight to abolish slavery and their farmhouse served as a meeting place for many famed abolitionists. In the 1840s, Anthony became the head of the girls department at Canajoharie Academy in New York for two years. When she left the academy, she began devoting more of her time to social movements, which for her at the time was mainly the temperance movement. The temperance movement was aimed at limiting or completely stopping the production and sale of alcohol. While campaigning against alcohol, Anthony became inspired to fight for womens rights when she was denied a chance to speak at a temperance convention because she was a woman. She realized that unless women had the right to vote, they would not be taken seriously in politics (Biography). Susan B. Anthony was extremely influential in the womens suffrage movement. As an activist she was often presented with many challenges but she remained steadfast in her dedication towards her causes. She often spoke at conventions and in 1853 she spoke at the state teachers convention where she called for women to be admitted to the profession and for better pay for female teachers. By 1859, she had spoken at several other teachers conventions arguing for coeducation and claiming that men and women were not intellectually different (Who). In 1851, she met with the prominent feminist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The two quickly became friends and collaborated in their work in support of womens suffrage (Susan). In 1863, they organized the Womens Loyal National League. The league provided an opportunity for womens rights activists to align with the fight against slavery (Everything). Anthony and Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1868. Later that year, the two women began publishing a weekly newspaper in New York City called The Revolution. In the 1880s Anthony worked on The History of Woman Suffrage with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Ida Husted Harper (Accomplishments). Susan B. Anthony was a social activist and one of the most influential leaders of the womens suffrage movement. She traveled around the country giving speeches and gathering signatures on petitions in support of womens suffrage and the abolition of slavery. She was raised by people who inspired her to become an activist and stand up for what she believed was right. From a young age the Quaker belief that everyone was equal under God was instilled in her, this belief guided her through most of her life.