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Susan Brownwell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. She was the second of eight children. Only six children lived. Her father ran a weaving mill. You might think that this was a normal life in the 1800's. Well, you're wrong. Susan was anything but normal. She was outstanding! Her father's cotton factory failed in 1838, and he had to sell all of his wife's possessions, that rightfully belonged to him, to help pay his debt. Susan never married because she didn't want to end up penniless like her mother. Her father raised the family as Quakers. Her mother, Lucy, was Baptist, but gave into the religion of Quaker when she married Mr. Anthony. Quakers believed men and women were equals and that slaves should be free. Susan, unlike many girls, had a very good education. Her parents sent her to boarding school and then a female academy in upstate New York. After school, she was a teacher for fifteen years. She was paid $2.50 a week, which is only a fourth of men's teaching pay. When Susan got tired of teaching, she decided to fight for her opinions. She wanted women's rights, men to stop drinking so much alcohol because they were hurting their wives, and for all slaves to be freed. She believed that the Constitution stated that women and men are equal so she became the founder of the National Women's Suffrage Association. She and many other women working for equal rights were often made fun of in cartoons. Susan made her own newspaper called "The Revolution" to spread the word of women's rights. She did most of her protesting and fighting in New York State. During this time, Susan joined a temperance group against men and their alcohol dosage, and she was soon elected president of this group. Her best friend, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, said that Susan was an extremely good critic and supplier of facts and statistics and that Elizabeth was just the opposite, so they made the perfect team. While the Civil War was going on (1861-1865), Susan and Elizabeth tried to free the slaves and with their help, the slaves were let go. On Susan's 86th birthday she said, "Failure is impossible." Just one month after this, Susan B. Anthony died on March 13, 1906. All the women were very happy when fourteen years later the law came through for women to vote. Now, thanks to Susan B. Anthony, men and women are treated equally and there are no slaves. However some people still drink a lot of alcohol. Susan was a great leader and fighter, and I am very grateful that she would never give up. |