I may have been a bit naïve when I decided to tackle this project during the month of March. I honestly believed that a simple Google search with a few keywords would get me to a wealth of information about women who were pioneers in building community. That was when I realized that what we, and multiple other trailblazers in community living, are doing is new and bold.
So I decided to take a step back.
While I could take women’s history back as far as Classical Greece, I really wanted to focus on my own back yard and the women who directly made my life better. So I am starting with the suffragettes.
While women’s suffrage in the U.S. began around 1840 it culminated with the right to vote, granted nationally in 1920.
That’s right, less than 100 years ago women across the United States could not vote. I sometimes wonder if younger generations of women completely understand the impact of this.
When my mother was born, women couldn’t vote in this country.
There were many women who were important in the movement to gain the right to vote in our own country. They include:
- Susan B. Anthony: She lived a life of fighting for social equality including abolition and in 1956 she became an agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society. After she met Elizabeth Cady-Stanton she began actively working toward voting rights for women.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Just like her friend Anthony, Stanton began as an abolitionist but eventually narrowed her focus to women’s rights. Both Stanton and Anthony died nearly 20 years before the 19th amendment was established granting women the right to vote.
- Lucy Stone: Known for using her maiden name after she married, Stone also began as an anti-slavery activist and played a part in the passing of the 13th amendment to abolish slavery. It was then she turned her attention to women’s voting rights and along with Anthony and Stanton is considered one of the founding mothers of suffrage in the United States.
- Alice Stone Blackwell: Lucy Stone’s daughter eventually took up the legacy her mother left behind. Blackwell died in 1950, 20 years after the 19th amendment was established. She was also a published author and wrote a biography of her mother and the suffragette movement.
Who do you want to recognize for women’s history month? Share your ideas here or join the conversation on Facebook!
