Susan B. Anthony

(1820–1906) Susan was the driving force behind the 19th Century women’s rights movement. She was born in 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts to Quaker parents, who believed in abolition, temperance, and the equality of men and women.

Susan's work in women’s rights began in 1852, when she co-founded the Woman’s New York State Temperance Society. Their goal was to advocate for state legislation to regulate the sale of alcohol, allow women to divorce their husbands for drunkenness, and permit women the right to vote.

For the next half century, Susan labored ceaselessly for women’s rights on the state, national and international levels. She founded the National Woman’s Suffrage Association and the International Women’s Council and lectured throughout the United States and lobbied lawmakers for women’s property rights, divorce laws favorable to women, and women’s suffrage. In fact, Susan drafted the language of the 19th Amendment first introduced to Congress in 1878. She voted illegally in the 1872 federal election for which she was fined $100 but did not pay.

In 1906, Susan gave her last speech, where she concluded with her famous quote “Failure is Impossible.” She passed away one month later at the age of 86. It would be another fourteen years before the passage of the 19th amendment. Nonetheless, her efforts laid the foundation for its enactment.

Two organizations that she founded exist today and are carrying out her legacy. The National Woman Suffrage Association became the League of Women Voters. The International Council on Women serves in a consultative capacity to the United Nations.

In 1921, Susan was commemorated with a statue of her, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott, which is on display in the U.S. Capitol Building. In 1979, the Susan B. Anthony dollar was issued making it the first coin with a woman’s likeness. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan has a sculpture honoring four spiritual heroes of the twentieth century: Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Mohandas Gandhi, and one woman—Susan B. Anthony. "