The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Anthony, Susan Brownell

ANTHONY, Susan Brownell, American reformer: b. South Adams, Mass., 15 Feb. 1820; d. Rochester, N. Y., 13 March 1906. She taught school in New York in 1835-50, in 1852 assisted in organizing the Woman's New York State Temperance Society, and in 1854-55 held conventions in each county in New York, in behalf of female suffrage. In 1857 she became a leader in the anti-slavery movement, and in 1858 advocated the coeducation of the sexes. She was influential in securing the passage by the New York legislature, in 1860, of the act giving married women the possession of their earnings and guardianship of their children. In 1868, with Mrs. E. C.

Stanton and Parker Pillsbury, she began the publication of the Revolutionist, a paper devoted to the emancipation of woman. In 1872 she cast ballots at the State and Congressional election in Rochester, N. Y., to test the application of the 14th and 15th Amendments of the United States Constitution. She was indicted for illegal voting and fined, but the fine was never exacted. Her last public appearance of note was as a delegate to the International Council of Women, in London, England, in 1899. In 1900 her birthday was celebrated by an affecting popular demonstration in Washington, D. C, and she retired from the presidency of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which she had held for many years. Consult &lsquo;Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony&rsquo; (1898).