Susan B. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 and was raised as a Quaker. Anthony was the daughter of a farmer and later a cotton mill owner with seven brothers and sisters. She taught for many years and after meeting with William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, became a vocal abolition activist and gave many public speeches – which was not typical of women at the time. She met Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1851 and the two became good friends and leaders in the women’s suffrage movement. Stanton, an excellent writer and researcher, wrote many of the speeches on women’s suffrage delivered by Anthony. After the ratification of the 14th amendment in 1868 (which extended Constitutional protections to all citizens of the United States – including former slaves), Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony refused to support the 15th amendment (which guaranteed the right to vote for Black men) because it ignored the issue of women’s suffrage. They founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1869 with Stanton as president to push for a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women’s suffrage. The 15th amendment was ratified in 1870. This only fueled their fire to work harder promoting equal rights for women.Women’s Suffrage in the States
The American Equal Rights Association was formed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in 1866, which aimed to secure the right to vote for Americans no matter their race or gender.
