Susan B. Anthony: a biography of this women’s rights activist

Susan B. Anthony was one of the driving forces behind women's suffrage; let's take a look at her life.

The history of women's suffrage is wide and vindictive. Numerous women have done everything possible to achieve equality between men and women, fighting against a world in which they were infantilized and denied the same conditions enjoyed by men.

The 19th century United States was an ironic country. After the Civil War and the Confederate defeat, rights were recognized for African Americans, who until recently had been slaves in the South, but women, whether white or freed black, had hardly any recognized rights.

The suffragette movement was in full swing, and in the American context the figure of Susan B. Anthony, a pioneer in the United States in the defense of equality between men and women. Let's discover the life of this feminist activist through a biography of Susan B. Anthony in which we will see her trajectory.

Brief biography of Susan B. Anthony

Susan Brownell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts.. She grew up in a liberal Quaker family and was the second of seven children born to Daniel and Lucy Anthony.

The Anthony couple did not allow their children to play with toys and tried to make their offspring, from an early age, find the "inner light" that would reveal the Quaker religion to them. Thanks to her father's concern for her children's education, young Susan learned to read and write at the age of three.

Her father was a Quaker professor who at the time ran a cotton manufacturing company, openly opposed to slavery. Susan was raised in an environment where independence of judgment and ethical rigor were encouraged, but strict nurturing was also applied.but also a strict upbringing.

Youth and education

In 1826, when Susan B. Anthony was only six years old, she and her family moved to Battenville, New York, where she attended the local grammar school. In addition to attending classes, the young girl helped her father in a cotton mill. The Anthony couple treated all seven of their children equally, regardless of gender, which planted the idea of gender equality in Susan's mind.

The Anthonys' ideas were truly advanced for their time, which got Susan into trouble at school.Susan's father, who was a strong advocate for both genders to receive the best education possible, was not happy about this, which motivated him to found his own school and teach his children there.

This did not please Susan's father, who was a strong advocate for both genders to receive the best education possible, something that motivated him to found his own school and teach his children there. There he would hire Mary Perkins, a teacher who would be a role model for young Susan B. Anthony.

Susan B. Anthony would complete pedagogically oriented studies at a girls' boarding school in Philadelphia and would also attend a school for girls in central New York State. After completing these studies, she would devote herself to teaching until she was thirty years old, at which time she would begin her career as a teacher.at which time she would begin her political activism.

Beginnings in feminist activism.

After her formative years, Susan B. Anthony began to enter the world of political activism, guided by the example set by her parents and a liberal spirit. In 1848 she joined the temperance movement, also known as the pro-temperance movementalso called the temperance movement, in which she was a militant for five years.

While in its ranks she discovered the profound limitations of being a woman in the society in which she had to live, even within a liberal reformist organization, and therefore decided to found a group exclusively for women: the Women's Temperance Society of New York State.

But the event that would lead her to enter fully into feminism took place in 1851, the year in which she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, an already renowned feminist.an already renowned feminist who in 1848 had led the Seneca Falls Convention, the first American suffragist manifesto. Stanton would eventually become Anthony's inseparable companion, and both would become feminist references for the next five decades.

From 1882 Susan B. Anthony, together with Stanton and Amelia Bloomer, participated and organized several campaigns in favor of equality and women's rights. The feminist struggle was initially focused on general demands, but progressively concentrated on achieving universal suffrage. The idea was that by obtaining the right to vote, the feminist movement could initiate various legal reforms from within.

The campaigns in favor of women's suffrage were also accompanied by protests in favor of changing the labor legislation of the time, raising awareness of the sexist mentality, and the need to change the legal system.The campaigns for women's suffrage were also accompanied by protests in favor of changing the labor laws of the time, raising awareness of the prevailing sexist mentality and denouncing the discriminatory customs of American society. Among her most famous campaigns was her fight against the physical restrictions imposed by 19th century women's fashion, promoting its replacement by the use of more comfortable garments, such as bloomers and wide skirts.

War of Succession and post-war period

Since 1854 Susan B. Anthony combined her feminist struggle with the fight against slavery within the American Anti-Slavery Society until the beginning of the War of Succession and the postwar period. until the Civil War began in 1861. At that time, the feminist struggle was removed from practically all political life, since the situation and military efforts were concentrated on the anti-slavery cause. Anthony founded the Loyalist Women's League in 1863, an organization that promoted the liberation of slaves in Confederate lands.

After the war ended, Anthony spoke out publicly against violence against African Americans, encouraging the suffragist movement to support them. In addition, along with Stanton, led several campaigns against New York's discriminatory laws against women, speaking at numerous conferences throughout the state.and held numerous lectures throughout the state.

Some time after the end of the war, suffragism, which had been supportive of the abolitionist cause, realized that the time had come to focus exclusively on its main objective, achieving gender equality and the vote. The reason for this was that, despite being anti-slavery, this support had not been reciprocated. The male antislaveryists did not support or approve of women's political activism.

It is here that we can speak of a paradoxical United States. This nation, which called itself a land of the free, had not until recently been free for blacks and Native Americans. It had just recognized rights to these two racial groups, but women, whether white or black, had equal status as citizens below men.

In 1868, the tandem Anthony-Stanton tandem began publishing a feminist weekly in New York City. "The Revolution.". In this publication Anthony focused on demanding equal pay between genders and improved working conditions for New York women workers. At that time, men were paid on average five times more than women for doing the same work. That is why she decided to found the New York Working Women's Association.

In 1869, together with Stanton, she founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, which began to demand women's suffrage.which began to demand the approval of a constitutional amendment that would give women the vote once and for all. His motivation was due to the fact that African-American men had just been granted civil and political rights through the passage of two constitutional amendments, numbers 14 and 15, and this is where Anthony's major life episode begins.

Judged for voting

In the year 1872, it was time for presidential elections in the United States. At that time, women did not yet have the right to vote, but Anthony, along with 49 other women, went to the polls on October 1, 1872, showed up on October 1 at the civil registry office in Rochester, Rochester.. There they asked to be registered as voters under the impressed gaze of the registrar's moderators.

Anthony defended her right to be registered as a voter by appealing to the recently passed 14th and 15th Amendments. The appendix to these new laws declared that all those born in the United States were citizens of the country and entitled to certain rights. According to Anthony's arguments, there was no reason to exclude women from such rights, which should include being able to vote in elections.

The moderators initially refused to register them, but Anthony did not give up. She quoted great men of the American Constitution and tried to persuade the registrars. Seeing that they would not let her, she threatened to sue them, saying they were not abiding by the new laws. The overseers could not help but agree and agreed to register a total of fifteen women, including Anthony.

Thus, on October 5, the day the elections were held, Anthony went to the polls in Rochester to vote along with eight other women, exercising the right to vote that they had so long demanded without a problem. Anthony voted for the Republican candidate Ulysses S. Grant, since his party had promised to listen to the feminists' demands.

But the story did not stop there. The fact that women had been able to vote generated controversy.. On November 14, a warrant was issued for Susan B. Anthony's arrest on the charge of illegal voting, prompting Rochester's deputy marshal to come to her home and ask her, politely, to go to the police herself. Anthony refused, saying she wanted to be treated the same as a man when he commits a crime, extending her wrist to be placed in handcuffs right there.

Preliminary investigations began on November 29, with Anthony and 14 other women charged. There was a break of almost a month after questioning the parties involved and, in Dec, the director of investigations concluded that Anthony had probably violated the law, taking the case to court.The case was taken to court.

The first trial was scheduled for January and the defendants were released on bail, with the exception of Anthony. She was the only one who refused to pay, since she saw in her arrest a unique opportunity to reach the Supreme Court and make her claims known throughout the country. She remained in jail until January when her lawyer, against her will, decided to post bail. On January 29, the jury found Anthony guilty of illegal voting and a second trial was scheduled for May.

Now free on bail and awaiting the second trial, Anthony toured Rochester and the surrounding area. toured Rochester and the surrounding area to promote women's suffrage.. The trial was postponed and scheduled for June. The end result was that Anthony had to pay $100, something she again refused to do and, this time, the judge did not dare demand payment or lock her up, knowing that Susan B. Anthony would see it as an opportunity to retrial, stretch the process further and make a bigger impact.

Later years

In 1883 Susan B. Anthony traveled through Europe establishing contact with different feminist organizations in England and France. It was during these trips that the idea of creating an international suffragette organization was born, something that five years later would become a reality during the commemoration of the anniversary of the Seneca Falls Declaration. The International Council of Women was born, bringing together feminist groups from 48 countries..

Along with the work carried out by Stanton and Mathilda J. Gage, Susan B. Anthony compiled and published her "History of Women's Suffrage" between 1881 and 1902. In addition, together with a group of Christian suffragists, she worked on the edition of the "Women's Bible", a work that was certainly controversial. It was a compilation of biblical passages in which women appeared and she commented on them.

In her later years she had the opportunity to go to England in 1902. It was during her stay in Manchester that she had the opportunity to meet the English suffragette Christabel Pankhurst, daughter of the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, who was also the daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst.Christabel Pankhurst, daughter of the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. Anthony motivated Christabel to intensify her fight for women's rights.

In February 1906 she made a presentation at the Baltimore Women's Conference and was expected to attend a party in her honor in New York. However, while en route, Anthony contracted pneumonia which, although she recovered momentarily, she became ill again.

Susan Anthony died in Rochester, New York, on March 13, 1906, aged 86.she was 86 years old. Despite her great struggle in favor of women's rights and the approval of women's suffrage, she was unable to see this milestone during her lifetime in her native United States, but, undoubtedly, her struggle was instrumental in its approval in 1920.

Bibliographical references:

• Ruiza, M., Fernández, T. and Tamaro, E. (2004). Biography of Susan Anthony. In Biographies and Lives. The online biographical encyclopedia. Barcelona (Spain). Retrieved from https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/a/anthony.htm on September 17, 2020.
• Stanton, Elizabeth Cady; Anthony, Susan B.; Gage, Matilda Joslyn; Harper, Ida (1881-1922). History of Woman Suffrage in six volumes. Rochester, NY: Susan B. Anthony (Charles Mann Press).
• Barry, Kathleen (1988). Susan B. Anthony: A Biography of a Singular Feminist. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-36549-6.