Susan B. Anthony

Women's History Month | Susan B. Anthony

The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right​. Susan Brownell Anthony became one of the most visible leaders of the women’s suffrage movement.

Multiple Choice

What does the word suffrage mean?

• the right to vote
• the right to drive a car
• the right to be free
• the right to have an education

​Susan B. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. Her father, Daniel, was a farmer and later a cotton mill owner and manager and was raised as a Quaker. Her mother, Lucy, came from a family that fought in the American Revolution and served in the Massachusetts state government. From an early age, Anthony was inspired by the Quaker belief that everyone was equal under God.

Multiple Choice

When was Susan B. Anthony born?

• March 1, 1702
• May 2, 1980
• Yesterday
• February 15, 1820

Multiple Choice

Where was Susan B. Anthony born?

• Boston, Mass.
• Savannah, Ga
• Adams, Mass.
• Washington D

​That idea guided her throughout her life. She had seven brothers and sisters, many of whom became activists for justice and emancipation of slaves. 

​After many years of teaching, Anthony returned to her family who had moved to New York State. There she met William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, who were friends of her father. Listening to them moved Susan to want to do more to help end slavery. She became an abolition activist, even though most people thought it was improper for women to give speeches in public. Anthony made many passionate speeches against slavery.

Multiple Choice

Susan B. Anthony was an abolonist.  What is an abolonist?

• someone who wants everyone to have the right to vote.
• someone who wants slavery to end.
• someone who wants to be free
• someone who wants to be a president

​In 1851, Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The two women became good friends and worked together for over 50 years fighting for women’s rights. They traveled the country and Anthony gave speeches demanding that women be given the right to vote. At times, she risked being arrested for sharing her ideas in public.

​Anthony was good at strategy. Her discipline, energy, and ability to organize made her a strong and successful leader. Anthony and Stanton co-founded the American Equal Rights Association. In 1868 they became editors of the Association’s newspaper, The Revolution, which helped to spread the ideas of equality and rights for women. Anthony began to lecture to raise money for publishing the newspaper and to support the suffrage movement. She became famous throughout the county.

​When Congress passed the 14^th and 15^th amendments which give voting rights to African American men, Anthony and Stanton were angry and opposed the legislation because it did not include the right to vote for women. Their belief led them to split from other suffragists. They thought the amendments should also have given women the right to vote. They formed the National Woman Suffrage Association, to push for a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.

Multiple Choice

Why did she want women to have the right to vote?

• Women are better than men.
• She wanted women to be equal to men.
• She wanted slavery to end.
• She wanted to be a teacher.

​In 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting. She was tried and fined $100 for her crime. This made many people angry and brought national attention to the suffrage movement.

Multiple Choice

What was Susan B. Anthony arrested for in 1872?

• She was speeding.
• She was protesting.
• She was running away.
• She voted.

Multiple Choice

What happened when Susan voted in a presidential election?

• Nothing
• She was arrested and fined 100 dollars
• She ran away
• She was allowed to vote

​Anthony spent her life working for women’s rights. In 1888, she helped to merge the two largest suffrage associations into one, the National American Women’s Suffrage Association. She led the group until 1900. She traveled around the country giving speeches, gathering thousands of signatures on petitions, and lobbying Congress every year for women.

​Anthony died in 1906, 14 years before women were given the right to vote with the passage of the 19^th Amendment in 1920.

Multiple Choice

What number amendment gave women the right to vote?

• 13
• 15
• 19
• 20

Multiple Choice

Susan B. Anthony wanted....

• the colonists to be free from British rule.
• to be the first woman president
• to be a nurse
• all women to have the right to vote

Multiple Choice

Name some ways in which Susan B. Anthony tried to get information out about the women's rights movement.

• She gave speeches
• She wrote in a newspaper
• She protested with other women
• All of the answers