A Fighter for Change (susan B. Anthony)

Jessie Lee

Ms. Holoka

English 312

5 December 2011

A Fighter for Change

Historical figure Susan B. Anthony heard insults and the word "no" throughout her whole life and still fought for everything she believed in. Anthony lived in a time period during which drunken husbands abused their families, universities remained open to only male students, slavery still existed, and women could not vote ("Susan B. Anthony House"). Refusing to accept or allow any of these, Anthony took a stand. She believed in the equality of all people, white and black, male or female, and fought for her beliefs until her death. Susan B. Anthony, abolitionist and an advocate for women, shaped and had an impact on society by changing certain aspects in the areas of temperance, education, slavery, and women's suffrage.

Influenced at an early age, Anthony believed in temperance due to the horrors that came with liquor and became determined to do something about it. Daniel Anthony, Susan B. Anthony's father, was against the selling and using of liquor because of the abuse women received from their husbands and the abuse children received from their fathers (Weisberg 26). Her attitude towards temperance, or abstaining from alcohol, was directly affected by her family in addition to their views on temperance. Anthony put her views into action by becoming a temperance worker and attending many temperance conventions. At one particular convention in New York, Anthony attempted to speak but a man reprimanded her and told her, "The ladies have been invited to listen and learn and not to speak" ("The Susan B. Anthony Center"). She personally overcame this challenge by creating a female temperance society with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a woman who shared similar views with Anthony, called the Daughters of Temperance. The Daughters of Temperance consisted of women who focused on the evils of alcohol. During their time running the temperance society, they petitioned the state legislature to pass a law limiting the sale of liquor. However, the state legislature denied the petition because most of the 28,000 signatures they obtained belonged to women and children ("Susan B. Anthony House"). This denial and other denials did not stop Anthony. Determined to change society, she continued to fight for temperance and began to fight for other aggravations such as equality in education.

Susan B. Anthony despised the fact that women could not attend universities while men could and was determined to change this. Due to her father's actions, Anthony had a great respect for education throughout her whole life. Barbara Weisberg states that Daniel Anthony was "unsatisfied with the limitations of the local school" which Susan B. Anthony