Susan B. Anthony: A Pioneer for Women’s Rights and Abolition

Long before August 18, 1820, women were denied the right to vote for 144 years. Women were second class citizens in a hypocritical patriarchal society. Despite this plight, Susan B. Anthony proved to be an influential figure: she laudably pursued the women's rights, and her anti-slavery initiatives aided the abolition of slavery.

Susan Brownell Anthony was born in February 15, 1820 in Massachusetts. Anthony was one of eight children in a Quaker household. To her religion and schooling she owed much. Her Quaker background and education enabled her to develop a strong moral compass. Anthony's ploy for women's rights started in her early life. In the late 1830s, when Anthony was in her teens, her father's business failed, and she was pulled out of school due to his financial woes.

She left her family soon after to make a living but continued to support them with her meager teaching salary. Despite growing up in an uber religious household, Anthony would later deliberate that the church was the reason for women's oppression. One of her first triumphs would be the fact that she was instrumental in the victory of the abolitionists. At her parent's new home in Rochester, New York, she hosted famous abolitionistssuch as Frederick Douglas. These meetings would not serve as the conclusion of her dedication however.

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In 1851, Anthony attended an anti-slavery conference were famous orators such as William Lloyd Garrison and George Thompson made reaffirmed the evils of slavery and the fact that it should be abolished. Anthony would later launch an anti-slavery campaign of her own after being heavily influenced by Garrison's words (quote from a Frederick Douglas book)- “No compromise with slavery! No union with slaveholders!”

Anthony's defining moment would come when Susan B. Anthony along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, her new found friend at the anti-slavery convention, established the Women's Loyal National League in 1863. Together, they started drive to collect signatures to abolish slavery, and they were able to collect nearly 400,000 signatures. This significantly aided the passage of the 13th amendment- the government probably noticed that this no longer was a black man's problem, but the whole nation was convinced that slavery was unnecessary and unmoral. Anthony's success is the abolitionist world definitely improved the status of blacks in society.

Additionally, many women owe the leadership roles they now enjoy to the works of Susan B. Anthony. Anthony has a long track record when it came to pursuing women's rights. Some of her notable institutions was the American Equal Rights Association which purpose was to secure equal rights for all persons, the National Women's Suffrage Association, and so on. Anthony would literally stop at nothing to eradicate the barriers society put before women. She even took a brave gamble by illegally voting in the 1872 election. Anthony was arrested, and indicted, but even after she served her term she continued to give her lectures. She showed Strong resolve, and a year before her death, she unsuccessfully talked to the president about lobbying for woman's suffrage.

Fourteen years after her death in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, and she was forever remembered as the one who lead the charge for women's suffrage. Thanks to her strong resolve to enfranchise women and provide them with basic rights, women today can occupy leadership positions, such as CEO roles, and exercise the most basic right- the right to vote.

Susan B. Anthony's conviction and perseverance has bestowed upon today's generation of women invaluable social mobility. Her knack for campaign for women and Black American causes cannot be overlooked. Such efforts have been the foundation of the leadership positions these two groups thoroughly enjoy at present.

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