Susan B. Anthony
"I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand."
She was born February 15th, 1820 to Daniel Anthony and Lucy Read in Adams, Massachusetts.
Susan was inspired by the Quaker belief that everyone was equal under God.
That idea guided her throughout her life.
She had seven brothers and sisters, many of whom became activists for justice and emancipation of slaves.
She learned to read and write by the age of three.
Life became difficult for Susan and her family after her dad lost almost everything when the economy collapsed in 1837.
Susan started teaching to make money to help pay off her father's debts.
She collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17.
In 1856, she became the New York state agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society.
In 1852, Susan and her friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the New York Women's State Temperance Society after Susan was prevented from speaking at a temperance conference because she was female.
Together in 1863, they founded the Women's Loyal National League, which conducted the largest petition drive in United States history up to that time, collecting nearly 400,000 signatures in support of the abolition of slavery.
They initiated the American Equal Rights Association in 1866, which campaigned for equal rights for both women and African Americans.
They began publishing a women's rights newspaper called The Revolution in 1868.
They founded the National Woman Suffrage Association as part of a split in the women's movement in 1869.
In 1890, their organization merged with the rival American Woman Suffrage Association to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
In 1876, Susan and Stanton began working with Matilda Joslyn Gage on the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage.
She was arrested in 1872 for voting in her hometown of Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicized trial.
She refused to pay the fine, but the authorities declined to take further action.
In 1878, Susan and Stanton arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote.
It later became known colloquially as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment and was ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.
Susan traveled a lot and gave as many as 75 to 100 speeches per year and worked on many state campaigns.
She worked internationally, playing a key role in creating the International Council of Women.
In 1893, she also helped to bring about the World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
At first Susan was harshly ridiculed and accused of trying to destroy the institution of marriage.
Later in life, public perception of her changed radically.
At age 75, she toured Yosemite National Park on the back of a mule.
Her 80th birthday was celebrated in the White House at the invitation of President William McKinley.
She became the first actual woman to be depicted on U.S. coinage when her portrait appeared on the 1979 dollar coin.
She remained as leader of the NAWSA and continued to travel extensively on suffrage work, initiating the Rochester branch of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union.
In 1898, she called a meeting of 73 local women's societies to form the Rochester Council of Women.
She played a key role in raising the funds required by the University of Rochester before they would admit women students, pledging her life insurance policy to close the final funding gap.
Susan B. Anthony died at the age of 86 of heart failure and pneumonia in her home in Rochester, New York, on March 13, 1906.
She was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester.
