It’s sobering to realize that it’s only been 95 years since the first woman legally cast her ballot in an American presidential election. March is Women’s History Month and before it’s over for 2015, I’d like to propose that we launch an effort to memorialize the immense contributions of the American women’s suffrage leaders by adding their likeness to at least one of our pieces of currency.
The Susan B. Anthony silver dollar had a short but awkward run from 1979-1981 and again in 1999 before production halted. In recent months, there have been discussions about replacing President Jackson on the $20 bill with someone else. Why not the three leading women who devoted their lives to the rights of women voters and changed the course of American history without ever casting a legal ballot of their own?
In the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol stands a striking, white sculpture of three incredible women. It is the first sculpture in the Capitol sculpted by a woman (Adelaide Johnson), of women (Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott) and for women. The sculpture gives the appearance of being unfinished or incomplete as a way of illustrating that the contributions of women to American government are still taking place and will never be finished. Today, women have a voice in our government because of the sacrifices and courageous efforts of those first “Women’s Suffrage” crusaders. They challenged convention, changed history and lived by the conviction of Susan B.
It was January 11, 1885 and in Moorestown, New Jersey what I would call a rook in the chess game of women’s suffrage, was born. It’s hard to believe that such an overwhelming infatuation in equality could be so deeply immersed in a woman only twenty-seven years of age. However, when you know that this person is none other than Alice Paul, believing gets easier. It was the defiance caged up inside this fire-cracker of a woman that led her steadily through the great battle of woman's suffrage.
She not only fought for women’s right to vote, but she also supported women’s labor organizations and for women’s right to own property. Persuading the University of Rochester to admit women was another accomplishment of Anthonys. She helped raise $50,000 in pledges and even cashed out her life insurance policy to raise the funding. Jimmy Carter signed the Susan B. Anthony Dollar Coin Act which replaced the existing image on the dollar coin to Anthony. She was the first women to be on the face of a coin. Her most well-known accomplishment was arguing to get women the right to vote. Anthony did this by founding the National Women’s Suffrage Association in
The vote that changed the world: Susan B. Anthony’s Fight For Women’s Suffrage On November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony and fourteen of her supporters, went to a voter registration office set up in a barber shop in in Rochester, New York. The fifteen women illegally cast their vote in the presidential election. The election inspectors refused the women’s request, but Anthony would not give up and stated, “If you refuse us our rights as citizens, I will bring charges against you in Criminal Court and I will sue each of you personally for large, exemplary damages!" (The trial of). She continued to say, "I know I can win.
Andrew Jackson is being kicked off the twenty dollar bill by the one and only Harriet Tubman. She will be the first female face in U.S. history to be put on a paper bill. At first Tubman was supposed to replace Hamilton on the ten, however as fate would have it the fans of the new Broadway musical were against it. The new decision is said not only to be a better one it is also ironic.
“It took 400 years after the declaration of independence was signed and 50 years after black men were given voting rights before women were treated as full American citizens and able to vote.” A women named Susan B. Anthony was one of those women struggling to be the same as mankind. Susan B. Anthony worked helped form women’s way to the 19th amendment. Anthony was denied an opportunity to speak at a convention because she was a woman. She then realized that no one would take females seriously unless they had the right to vote. Soon after that she became the founder of the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. In 1872, she voted in the presidential election illegally and then arrested with a hundred dollar fine she never paid.” 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.”(Anthony) When Susan B. Anthony died on March 13, 1906, women still didn’t have the right to vote. 14 years after her death, the 19th amendment was passed. In honor of Anthony her portrait was put on one dollar coins in
In the cartoon, it states “20,000,000 American Women Are Not Self-Governed” (Doc 7). This cartoon establishes the idea of women not taking part in the process of developing their own government. This is a necessary part to uphold as the equality of women leads to the right to vote, a key point in basic American rights. Two major women that fronted women's suffrage movement were Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Lucretia Mott initially started this movement with Elizabeth Stanton, in Seneca Falls, NY. In the letter to Elizabeth Stanton from Susan B. Anthony, she asks the question, “If only now--all the women suffrage women would work to this end of enforcing the existing constitution--supremacy of national law over state law over state law” (Doc 2). The idea of women's suffrage is not a simple task, as enforcing this law is a difficult task to continually maintain within both the national and state
Between December 1st and 2nd 1900, John Hossack (a farmer from Warren County, Iowa) was murdered with an ax by his wife while in bed (Iowa Cold Cases, Inc). This play was inspired by the true story of Margaret Hossack, an Iowa farm wife who was charged with the murder of her husband John. One of the reporters, Susan Glaspell, decided to write a literary version of this investigation and “Trifles” came to be. Susan Glaspell is a feminist writer from Davenport, Iowa who started off writing for a newspaper called Des Moines Daily News. Later on in her literary career she left the journalism industry and founded a theatrical organization called ‘Provincetown Players’ on Cape Cod, Massachusetts (Waterman). In Trifles, Susan Glaspell exposes women’s suffrage through a feminist voice by covering issues regarding female oppression and patriarchal domination and symbolically illustrating the 19th century married woman as a caged bird.
On November 5, 1872, in Rochester, New York in a barber shop a woman by the name of Susan Brownell Anthony had the satisfaction of seeing her ballot for the presidential election be added to the ballot box. Just this one action of a woman caused a great uproar, multiple protests, an arrest, a trial that will be remembered for years to come, and a fine of $100-one that will never be paid.
Elizabeth Stanton was an amazing woman and historical figure, who demonstrates what it takes to get a law passed in the United States Government. Elizabeth along with many other women laid the ground work for the women’s movement by organizing the Woman’s Suffrage Movement. The power and influence of these tremendous women grew for many years, and transformed into the National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA). Sadly, Elizabeth was not able to exercise her right to vote in her lifetime, nevertheless, the contributions that she made to the women’s movement will be recognized in history
The women’s suffrage portion of the exhibit also does the same and does not shy away from the fact that many women were arrested for working towards gaining the right to vote. While the rest of the museum was mostly centered on the accomplishments of white men, this small area works to take into the account contributions these groups made toward American
Imagine watching all the presidential debates, reading all the news articles, hearing all the campaign speeches, but having to sit in the living room. Imagine living in a country heralded as the birthplace of liberty, and yet being denied the ability to vote, the ability to have a voice in politics and play a part in the democracy. Cheated, vexed, and marginalized: the exact feelings of many American women. From these women came the First Wave Feminists, a group of suffragettes who utilized protests, pamphlets, and petitions to obtain the rights they deserved. One suffragette, Alice Paul, was often at the head of these movements. Through parading, picketing, and protesting, Paul dedicated her life to women’s voting rights.
Susan B. Anthony is a credible feminist, reason being, she is a female that has first handedly experienced deprivation of her rights as a U.S. citizen. This women knows exactly what she’s talking about, especially when she quotes the Constitution, “ We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and
The women 's suffrage movement, the time when women fought for their rights, began in the year 1848 and continued on all the way through the 1860s. Although women in the new republic had important roles in the family, the house, and other obligations, they were excluded from most rights. These rights included political and legal rights. Due to their gender, they have been held back because they did not have as much opportunities as the men did. The new republic made alterations in the roles of women by disparaging them in society. During this era, men received a higher status than women. Because women were forced to follow laws without being allowed to state their opinions, they tried to resist laws, fight for their freedom and strive to gain equality with men. This leads to feminism, the belief in political, social, and economic equality between men and women. It is the feminist efforts that have successfully tried to give rights that men had, to women who have been denied those rights. Upon the deprivation of those rights, the Seneca Falls convention and the Declaration of Sentiments helped women gain the privileges and opportunities to accomplish the task of equality that they have been striving for.
These influential women are most widely known suffragist of their generation and has become icons of the women suffrage movement. These independent, bold, and intelligent female pioneers paved the way for so many women different races, and nationalities to come together as one for a common cause. These women are known today as idols, icons, and activists. Those women that took a stand when no one else would be: Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone. These women believed that all American women, just like men, deserve the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
"National Women Suffrage Association." The Social Welfare History. State Boards of Charity. Web. 12 July 2015..