Movement Momentum
In the following decade, the women’s movement continued to build and these activists formed a close friendship with the Abolitionist Movement. Many of the movement’s leaders were dedicated abolitionists and both movements drew in people who were fighting for people to be treated equally and fairly. The women’s rights movement saw participation from influential abolitionists including Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and William Lloyd Garrison.
However, the momentum of the women’s rights movement was put on pause with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, as activists focused their efforts on the abolition of slavery. Not long after, with the Union victory in 1865, activists turned their attention back to the women’s rights movement, but this time, with a focus on women’s suffrage, which means granting women the right to vote. That was not the only thing they were fighting for, but it was a place to start. The ultimate goal would be equal rights for women and men.
