- Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was born on Feb. 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts. Her family was very involved in the fight for racial equality and Anthony befriended Frederick Douglass as an adult. Anthony’s family was also involved with the movement to decrease alcohol usage in the United States. It was when she was prohibited from giving a speech on this topic because she was a woman that Anthony became involved with women’s rights.
In 1869, Anthony became one of the women to help form the National Women Suffrage Association. She also worked on a newspaper, “The Revolution,” to help promote this cause. Anthony traveled all over the United States, giving speeches on how women’s suffrage should be legal. In 1872, she went as far as to cast a vote in the presidential election, resulting in her arrest and a fine of $100, which she refused to pay.
- Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell was born in Memphis, Tennessee on Sept. 23, 1863. Her parents were former slaves but had since opened their own business and were able to send Terrell to Oberlin College. She graduated college in 1884, being one of the early black women to do so. Terrell went on to marry Robert Terrell in 1891 and the two moved to Washington D.C.
Terrell started to become interested in the women’s rights movement after their move. As she realized that black women were not included in this cause, especially for the right to suffrage, Terrell began to address this problem. In 1896, she helped to form the National Association for Colored Women and became its first president. Terrell also was the first black woman to be a school board member. Later, she went on to challenge segregation further and sued a restaurant that refused black people.
- Alice Paul
Alice Paul was a Quaker born in 1885 in New Jersey. She was introduced to the topic of women’s voting rights by her mother, who brought her to meetings on the subject. Paul received much education in her life and several college degrees. Paul later joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and became the chair of its congressional committee. After a Washington D.C. protest turned violent, Paul began to have issues with the NAWSA and went on to form the National Woman’s Party (NWP) in 1916.
The NWP refused to back up political parties unless women were allowed suffrage rights. They held different events for their causes and even protested at the White House, which had never been done before. Those involved with this protest were arrested, being harshly treated in prison. They had more White House protests after this, however, and, eventually, women were given the right to vote. While this was a major step, Paul did not stop here. She continued to push for equal rights outside of voting and did this for most of her life.
- Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York in 1797. She was passed by various slave owners who were very cruel to her. Truth ran away from slavery with her daughter in 1827. She crossed paths with a family who was against slavery and paid for her way to freedom. They also sued for Truth’s son, who had been sold in Alabama, to be reunited with his mother.
Truth became an avid supporter of the abolishment movement and women’s rights. She went around the country, speaking about both of these causes, and supported the Union Army during the Civil War. She visited the White House on invitation following the war and also worked to help former slaves find a place within society through the Freedmen’s Bureau. She also fought against the segregation that took place in the country even after slavery ended.
- Abigail Kelley Foster
Abigail (Abby) Kelley Foster was born in Massachusetts as a Quaker on Jan. 15, 1811. She was a teacher and became interested in the words she heard from William Lloyd Garrison, who she would later work with, against slavery. She then became a member of the Female Anti-Slavery Society. Foster assisted the organization in asking for signatures for the opposition to slavery. She went on to represent the society at the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women in 1837, the first time it occurred. She spoke publicly for her first time against slavery at the second convention in 1838.
In 1840, Foster was voted to the American Anti-Slavery Society’s business committee, causing some to leave and form their own organization. She traveled to various states to speak about the abolishment movement, and later women’s rights as well. When asked to pay taxes on Foster and her husband’s farm, the two would not pay as Foster was not allowed to vote. This occurred three times and each time the property was put up for auction. The couple never lost their farm, however, as their friends bought it to restore it to them.
- Clarina I. H. Nichols
Clarina I.H. Nichols, born Clarina Irene Howard on Jan. 25, 1810, grew up in Vermont and received a good education. She became interested in women’s rights as her father worked to help women in toxic relationships who had no resources to turn to. Nichols experienced this herself during her first marriage, as her husband was abusive and even ran off with their three children. After she parted from him, Nichols found it difficult to find work and ways to uphold her family. Nichols eventually found a job as a writer for the Windham County Democrat newspaper, where she discussed topics of anti-slavery and women’s rights. She was particularly passionate about women having guardianship of their children, ownership of property, and ways for payment. She eventually became the editor of the newspaper and remarried. In 1850, Nichols took part in creating the National Women’s Rights Convention and her own speech was met very positively. She went on to travel to different parts of the country to speak throughout her career.
Rebekah Davidson
Intern