Susan Brownwell Anthony

“I believe in equal rights. I shall work for equal rights for all, and my goal will be to win women the right to vote!” said this courageous, determined woman at the beginning of her long struggle. I guess it all started when Susan B. (Brownwell) Anthony was born in 1820 into a world where women were treated unfairly. Her influential parents were Quakers and majorly believed in equal rights for not only women, but all people.

At a young age, Susan and her family were also very active in the anti-slavery movement. Later in her life, at the age of 36, she became an agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society. She arranged meetings, made speeches, put up posters and distributed pamphlets. Susan later became a part of the Women’s loyal League, which supported Abraham Lincoln’s belief in anti-slavery. A few years later, The Civil War began. Throughout this war, Anthony and other members of the women’s movement worked toward the emancipation of slaves.

She also met up with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Elizabeth was a leader of the women’s right movement and shortly after they met, the two women became co-workers. In the cold winter of 1854, Susan made a petition that contained three different rights that women should have. They included the right to vote, to have equal rights over their children, and the right for married women to control their earnings. In two months, Susan B. Anthony received 10,000 signatures. After barely reading over the petition, the legislature turned them down and refused to listen to their cries for justice. Between the years of 1881 and 1886, she and Stanton published 3 volumes of the History of Women’s Suffrage, a collection of writings about women’s struggle.

Throughout her determined work, many fields became open to women in the 19th century. She was one of the first reformers of equal rights. This strong, diligent woman died in 1906, 14 years before the 19th amendment was made. It became a law that women could now vote. After earning this right that Susan B. Anthony fought so hard for, pioneers continued to fight for more equal rights for women.

Today, women have gained justice and have the same rights as men. If Anthony was still alive today, she would be so proud of the new changes. She should definitely be considered a hero because of the huge impact she had on women. She wasn’t the richest person or the most famous, but she took great strides to stand up for what she believed in. It would probably have been beyond her wildest dreams that women in this world have come so far. As she once said, “Independence is happiness.”