Susan B Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. The second oldest of eight children to a local cotton mill owner and his wife. Anthony was a precocious child and learned how to read and write at the age of three. She was raised in the Quaker tradition pervaded by a tone of independence and moral zeal. She spent a short time at boarding school. In 1839 she took a position in a Quaker seminary in New York. From 1846 to 1849 she taught at a female academy in upstate New York.

Anthony got inspired to fight for women’s rights while campaigning against alcohol. Anthony was denied a chance to speak at a temperance convention because she was a woman, she later realized no one would take women in politics seriously until they had their right to vote. Anthony worked tirelessly giving speeches around the country and convincing others to support a women’s right to vote. She took matters into her own hands in 1872, she illegally voted in the presidential election and was arrested. Unsuccessfully fought the charges and was fined $100, which she never paid. Anthony never gave up on her fight for women's suffrage.  

 Anthony returned to her family who had moved to New York State. She met leading abolitionist Wlliam Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, who were friends with her father. By listening to them she wanted to do more to help slavery end. Anthony’s family became involved in the fight to end slavery. Soon, Anthony devoted most of her time to social issues. In 1851, After meeting Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anthony became interested in women’s suffrage. Anthony and Stanton became good friends and worked together fighting for women’s rights. They traveled the country and gave speeches demanding the right for women to vote.

Susan B. Antony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton