Monday, July 5, 2010

Strong Women - Susan B. Anthony


 
 1820 - 1906
Having celebrated the 4th of July yesterday I felt that Susan B. Anthony was the perfect Strong Woman for today.
Although most girls did not receive a formal education in the early 1800's, Susan B. Anthony's father, Daniel, as a 6th generation Quaker, believed in equal treatment for boys and girls. Consequently, Susan and her three sisters had the same opportunity for advanced education as her two brothers. Susan attended a private Quaker boarding school in Philadelphia.
The Anthony family was very active in the reform movements of the day. They worked for temperance (the prohibition of alcohol), the anti-slavery movement plus both of Susan B. Anthony's parents (Daniel and Lucy) and her sister Mary signed the "Declaration of Sentiments" at the Second Women's Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.
Susan B. Anthony dedicated her life to "the cause," the woman suffrage movement. The accomplishments of Susan B. Anthony paved the way for the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 (14 years after her death) which gave women the right to vote.
The woman suffrage movement motto read, "Men their rights and nothing more, women their rights and nothing less."