This is the history behind Episode 3, "Susan B. vs. The Law," of The Magic Sash, a podcast for young listeners produced by the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, the National Park Service, PRX and Gen-Z Media.
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony, 1870. Credit: Library of Congress.
Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) grew up in a Quaker family in Rochester, New York. She and members of her family joined movements to end slavery, to limit drinking, and to improve workers' conditions through unions. She is best known for her work for women's rights and women's suffrage, and may be the best-known suffrage activist in U.S. history. For many years she had worked for women's rights alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
The country in 1872
Between the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 and 1872, the United States had fought a four-year civil war that ended slavery in every state and territory, and new states and territories had been added.
The United States in 1872, the year Susan B. Anthony and other women registered and voted in Rochester. Image from the National Park Service's page.
Registering to vote
In 1872 Anthony organised her sisters and several other women in Rochester to register and try to vote in that autumn's presidential election.
- November 1, 1872. At the registration office, Anthony and her sisters persuaded the male officials that the 14th Amendment guaranteed all U.S. citizens equal treatment under the law — and that women, as citizens, were therefore covered by the voting laws. Unsure what to do, the officials let them register.
- The newspapers. The local paper published an interview with Anthony about registering, and papers suggested that the men at the registration office, which was in a barber shop, should be arrested for letting the women sign up. The story was widely read around Rochester, and over the next several days almost 50 more women, hearing of her success, registered too.
A barber shop in New York City, late 1800s. Credit: Library of Congress.
Election day and arrest
On election day, November 5, 1872, Anthony and 13 other women who had registered in Rochester went to the polling place. Asked to swear an oath that they were qualified to vote, they took it — and New York state law required election officials to let anyone who took the oath vote. The women cast their ballots.
Over the next two weeks, warrants were issued for their arrest. On November 18 a deputy U.S. marshal came to Anthony's house and took her to jail; the other 13 women were arrested and jailed as well. They were released on bail to await trial, which did not begin until June 17, 1873. That gave Anthony several months to travel the country making speeches on why she believed the U.S. Constitution gave women the legal right to vote.
Women registering to vote, early 1900s. Credit: Library of Congress.
Places to visit
- Susan B. Anthony House, Rochester, New York — open to the public as the National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House.
- Susan B. Anthony Birthplace — the home where she was born and raised.
Sources
- National Park Service, "The Magic Sash, Episode 3: 'Susan B. vs. The Law' Lesson Plan." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/magic-sash-episode-3-lesson-plan.htm
- The podcast's script (by its production partners), the lesson's questions and activities, and the podcast's banner are not reproduced.
- Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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