Susan Brownell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts.  She was the daughter of Daniel Anthony, a cotton mill owner, and his wife, Lucy Read Anthony. 

She grew up in a politically active family who worked to end slavery as part of the abolitionist movement. When they moved to Rochester, New York in 1845, the Anthony’s social circle included anti-slavery activist and escaped slave Frederick Douglass, who would later join Anthony in the fight for women’s rights. The Anthonys were also part of the temperance movement, which attempted to cease the production and sale of alcohol in the United States.

When Susan B. Anthony was denied a chance to speak at a temperance convention because of her gender, she was inspired to shift her focus to the fight for women’s rights. She realized that no one would take women in politics seriously unless they had the right to vote, writing: “There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers.”

Anthony founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 alongside activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Around this time, the two created and produced The Revolution, a weekly publication that lobbied for women’s rights under the American Equal Rights Association. Its masthead read: “Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” 

Anthony was tireless in her efforts, giving speeches around the country to convince others to support a woman’s right to vote. She even took matters into her own hands in 1872 when she voted in the presidential election illegally. Anthony was arrested and tried unsuccessfully to fight the charges. E