Vise Library celebrates Women's History Month: Influential Women

Today we will be highlighting some important women that fought for women's rights.

Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony was originally a school teacher.  She became involved in the anti-slavery movement and was against the production/selling of alcohol.  When she was denied to speak at a conference because of being a woman, she dedicated her life to fighting for women's rights.  She was one of the main campaigners and petitioners for women's voting rights.  In 1872 she voted illegally in the Presidential election and was arrested and convicted.  She was also fined $100 but never paid it.  She died in 1906 and the right for women to vote was not passed until 1920.  In 1979, her face was put on the dollar coin and she was the first woman that was honored this way.

• Susan B. Anthony in the Vise Library: Checkout the electronic book Learning About Fairness from the Life of Susan B. Anthony by clicking on the "links" tab on this page.

Sojourner Truth
Originally named Isabella Baumfree, Sojourner Truth was born into slavery.  She was able to escape from this life and met Olive Gilbert.  Sojourner dictated her life to Gilbert who eventually turned it into a biography, called The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. Her book was very popular and made it possible for her to speak against slavery and for women's rights.  In 1854, she gave her most famous speech "Ain't I a Woman?" to the Ohio Women's Rights Convention.  She was the first African-American Woman to have a bust of her at the U.S. Capitol.

• Sojourner Truth in the Vise Library:  Checkout the electronic book Sojourner Truth: A Biography by clicking on the "links" tab on this page.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton played an important role in women's rights.  She was the President of National Woman Suffrage Association for over 20 years.  She penned the Declaration of Sentiments that proposed the right for women to vote.  She worked closely with Susan B. Anthony by giving speeches and pushing for women's rights.  She also worked at a weekly newspaper called the Revolution.  Like Anthony, she did not live to see her hard work prevail and passed away before the right to vote was granted to women.

• Elizabeth Stanton in the Vise Library:  Checkout the book The Political Thought of Elizabeth Cady Stanton located at 305.42 D264 Pol

Sources Consulted:
http://www.biography.com/people/susan-b-anthony-194905
http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/trut-soj.htm
http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/elizabeth-cady-stanton.htm