What You Need to Know About Susan B. Anthony

Working closely with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony was a primary organizer, speaker, and writer for the 19th century women's rights movement in the United States, especially the first phases of the long struggle for women's vote, the women's suffrage movement or woman suffrage movement.

To learn more about the life of Susan B. Anthony, consult the biography of Anthony on this site:

• Susan B. Anthony

• 13 Surprising Facts About Susan B. Anthony

In this gallery are pictures of Susan B. Anthony and several related to her life.

• Susan B. Anthony Pictures

Susan B. Anthony's work with the women's suffrage movement is an integral part of that movement's history, as she and Stanton were central to that work. General accounts of the suffrage movement for the last half of the 19th century and first few years of the 20th century thus are excellent resources about Susan B. Anthony's contributions to history:

• The Long Road to Suffrage - a description of the woman suffrage movement from Seneca Falls to 1920
• Women's Suffrage Events - a timeline of events in the history of the women's suffrage movement in America, starting with Susan B. Anthony's stand in 1837 for equal pay for women teachers.

One particular incident which featured Susan B. Anthony was her attempt to vote and subsequent trial for that "offense."  The trial is considered a landmark in American women's history:

• United States v. Susan B. Anthony
• National Woman Suffrage Association: Susan B. Anthony (with Elizabeth Cady Stanton) headed up this wing of the split women's suffrage movement, 1869 - 1890.

This collection of Susan B. Anthony quotes will give a flavor of her speeches and writings:

• Susan B. Anthony Quotes

Contemporary sources -- writings from the time someone was alive -- may not include some of the analysis which historians later developed about particular individuals, but they do provide us with personal details about a person's life, and a perspective on how that individual was perceived while she was alive.  This site includes several contemporary sources about Susan B. Anthony:

• In these excerpts from The History of Woman Suffrage Volume 1, Elizabeth Cady Stanton describes Susan B. Anthony's entrance into the new movement for women's rights, the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two women:
  • "Reminiscences" by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• In Reminiscences of Famous Women, Harriet Townsend described her own memory of Susan B. Anthony:
  • "Susan B. Anthony" by Harriet A. Townsend
• When Susan B. Anthony died in 1906, she was well-known for her work in the women's suffrage movement.  This contemporary obituary says a lot about how she was known and how the media and general public thought of her at the time of her death:
  • Susan B. Anthony Obituary - 1906

To understand Susan B. Anthony's contribution to the women's suffrage movement, these additional resources may be helpful:

• Timelines:
  • Women's Suffrage Events - a timeline of events in the history of the women's suffrage movement in America, starting with Susan B. Anthony's stand in 1837 for equal pay for women teachers.
  • American Woman Suffrage Timeline - Winning the Vote - a timeline of the state-by-state legal changes on the long road to the vote for American women
• Overviews:
  • The Long Road to Suffrage - a description of the woman suffrage movement from Seneca Falls to 1920
• Key Events in the Women's Suffrage Movement
  • Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention - 1848 - Though Susan B. Anthony did not attend this event, it was key in initiating the active movement for the vote that Anthony participated in for the rest of her life.
  • Women's Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment: this amendment to the constitution split the women's suffrage movement, and later served as a basis for winning women's rights
  • Suffrage Turning Points 1913 - 1917: the March on Washington in 1913 through the reintroduction of the Susan B. Anthony amendment
  • August 26, 1920 - after Susan B. Anthony's death, the women's suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution finally was ratified, including women as full voting citizens
• Related Individuals
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton - Stanton and Anthony were friends and cooperated closely in their work in the women's suffrage movement. 
  • Women's Suffrage Biographies - find biographies and other resources of other key activists in the women's suffrage movement
• More articles and other resources about the women's suffrage movement:
  • Women's Suffrage - what you need to know about the women's suffrage movement

Check out how much you know about the women's suffrage movement with this online quiz:

• Women's Suffrage Quiz

The following list includes books by Susan B. Anthony (some with recent analysis and commentary by editors), books about Susan B. Anthony, and books for children and young adults about Susan B. Anthony:

• Susan B. Anthony Books

In 1999, a documentary on Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and their suffrage work premiered.

• "Not for Ourselves Alone"