Wicked News: Votes for Women

Susan B Anthony Birthplace Museum

Susan was born February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts. She was brought up in the Quaker family traditions. Quaker is defined as "The Religious Society of Friends is a movement that began in England in the 17th century. Members of this movement are informally known as Quakers, a word that means, "to tremble in the way of the Lord." In its early days it faced opposition and persecution; however, it continued to expand, extending into many parts of the world, especially the Americas and Africa."2

After teaching for 15 years, she moved her energy and power to the Temperance movement. For the last 40 years of her life, she was one of the most legendary American Civil Rights Leaders of the time. She died in 1906 at the age of 86, but until that day she did not stop fighting for Women's Rights. The Susan B Anthony Birthplace house was the headquarters of the National American Woman Suffrage Association when she was its president.

(Sorry for the glare) but this hangs over the stairwell in the house, it is one of the original banners that the women marched with. c. 1910.

Here is a painting of Susan Brownell Anthony as an older women. I think fighting with all your might, would give you white hair too.

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The house, is two-stories. The bottom floor consists of 5 downstairs rooms and the upstairs was converted into office space. The gift shop is a separate building just a few feet from the house.

First, the guide brought us into the Kitchen/dining room, had a large table with different instruments for cooking, and a fireplace. This room has artifacts that you can touch.

Second, was what they believe was a storage room for excess food, possibly, in the room also one of the walls is open, so you can see how it was built. It was different slats of wood, and in between each slat was this type of like mud/hard substance with horse hair. The horse hair creates a stronger hold.

Third, was a bedroom, where Susan was born along with all of her siblings. She was the second oldest of seven siblings, along with sadly, a few were stillborn, if I remember correctly. She remained close to her sisters all her life. Susan herself never married.

Houses in the 1820s did not have indoor plumbing (that came about 1930s), here are chamber pots, that would be emptied each morning, either by a servant if you could them or yourself. Usually they would have lids, like the one on the right with the fancy doily.

Next, room was her father, Daniel's store. Who was a cotton manufacturer and abolitionist himself. Also, he was big in the temperance movement, he ran his store as a temperance store- no alcohol. He was a stern but open-minded man who was born into the Quaker religion.He did not allow toys or amusements into the household, claiming that they would distract the soul from the "inner light." 3

Finally, but not least, was a room that was turned into a timeline room. As you went around the room, if portrayed newspaper articles, stories, quotes from Susan and other Abolitionists, Suffragettes, Labor Activists.

On November 18, 1872, Anthony was arrested by a U.S. Deputy Marshal for voting on November 5 in the 1872 Presidential Election two weeks earlier. She was sentenced, it was just a $100 fine, but not imprisonment; true to her word in court ("I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty"), she never paid the fine for the rest of her life, and an embarrassed U.S. Government took no collection action against her. After her trial Anthony petitioned the US Congress to remove the fine in January 1874. 2