Susan B. Anthony Day

On February 15^th every year, Susan B Anthony Day is celebrated to mark the birthday of Susan B. Anthony, one of America's most prominent female civil rights leaders.

History of Susan B Anthony Day

Susan B. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820. Susan B. Anthony's Day is not officially celebrated nationally. In 2011, the Susan B. Anthony Birthday Act, which would designate the third Monday in February as Susan B. Anthony Day. The holiday is celebrated in several places at the state level. Florida is the only state which is considered Susan B. Anthony Day as an official holiday on February 15 2019. In Wisconsin and California, this day is celebrated in public schools. In West Virginia, the holiday is celebrated on Election Day in even-numbered years. Anthony's birthday is celebrated every August in Massachusetts. In addition, Susan B. Anthony Day is unofficially celebrated nationwide, as the birthdays of famous historical figures are often.

Susan B. Anthony was born in Adams, Massachusetts. Her aunt Susan, for whom she was named, married a man named Brownell, and that's where Anthony got her initials from. Her family consisted of Quakers and activists, and in 1845 they moved to Rochester, New York, where they became part of the abolitionist movement. Anthony became a teacher, where she pushed for educational reforms, such as making girls and African Americans more inclusive.

Anthony joined the moderate movement and became a member of the Daughters of Temperance. She also became the leader of the Rochester branch later. As a woman, she was repeatedly not allowed to speak during peaceful protests. For example, she was not allowed to speak at the 1853 Sons of Temperance state convention. This issue helped spur her to join the women's rights movement. That same year, she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the State Personality Association for Women. They petitioned the legislature to pass legislation restricting the sale of alcohol - the petition was not accepted as it was mainly signed by women and children. That's when Anthony began to think that in order for women to be heard by politicians, they needed the right to vote. What incentive do politicians have to listen to women if they don't need their vote? The right to vote, known as the right to vote, became the biggest issue that concerned Anthony throughout his career.

In 1852, Anthony attended her first women's rights convention, the National Convention on Women's Rights, in Syracuse, New York. She began lecturing around the country on women's suffrage and continued to do so for more than half a century. She also fights for other women's rights, such as the right to keep their own property and income. She fought for the New York State Married Women's Property Bill; it was passed in 1860 and ensured that women could own property, keep their wages and have custody of their children.

In 1863, Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the National Loyal League of Women, the first national political women's organization in the United States. They gathered 400,000 signatures to put on petitions to Congress demanding an end to slavery. The American Equal Rights Association, also founded by Anthony and Stanton in 1866, fought for full citizenship, including the right to vote, for all, regardless of race or sex. Anthony and Stanton thought that the work they had done to fight for the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, would help them secure the right to vote. However, when the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, which expanded the right to vote, women were not included. However, Anthony's profile continued to grow, and by this time she had established herself as a prominent female national leader, the first of its kind in US history.

Again working with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anthony created a weekly women's rights publication called The Revolution. Then, along with others, they put together three volumes A History of Woman's suffering. In 1869, there was a split in the women's movement, and Anthony and Stanton founded the National Association of Free Women. They continued their strategy of fighting to amend the constitution, while the American Freedom Association fought for the vote at the state level. From 1869 to 1906, Anthony came before each Congress and appealed for a suffrage amendment. In 1872, Anthony voted illegally in the presidential election in Rochester. She was arrested along with her three sisters and other women, and fined $100. She never paid the fine.

By the 1880s, Susan B. Anthony was one of the country's top leaders, and she continued her work into her old age. In 1887, two women's suffrage associations joined together to form the National Association of American Women's Suffrage, which Anthony was president from 1892 to 1900.

On March 13, 1906, while at her home on Madison Street in Rochester, New York, Susan B. Anthony died of heart disease and pneumonia. Until 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was official passed and gave women in all states the right to vote. Because of Anthony's tireless efforts for women's suffrage, it became known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. In 1979, Anthony became the first woman to have her face on a coin in the United States. In the twenty-first century, Anthony's work continues to inspire, and today we remember and honor her legacy.

How to Observe Susan B. Anthony Day

Honor the legacy of Susan B. Anthony today:

• Visit the Susan B. Anthony National House and Museum in Rochester, New York.
• Stopped at the grave of Susan B. Anthony, also in Rochester. Memorial services have been held here and in Washington D.C. today.
• Visit the Birthplace of Susan B. Anthony in Adams, Massachusetts. You can also support efforts to preserve the childhood home.
• Watch documentaries about Anthony, such as Not Alone: ​​The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony or One Woman, One Vote.
• Read books about Susan B. Anthony or a feminist movement like Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words, A History of Women's Rights, or a Century of Struggle: The Women's Rights Movement in the United States.