Lucy Stone (Aug 13, 1818 – Oct 19, 1893) prominent American orator, abolitionist, and suffragist, and a vocal advocate and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone became the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She spoke out for womens rights and against slavery at a time when women were discouraged and prevented from public speaking. Stone was known for using her maiden name after marriage. Stones organizational activities for the cause of womens rights yielded tangible gains in the difficult political environment of the 19th century. Stone helped initiate the first National Womens Rights Convention and she supported and sustained it annually along with a number of other local, state and regional activist conventions. Stone spoke in front of a number of legislative bodies to promote laws giving more rights to women. She assisted in establishing the Womans National Loyal League to help pass the Thirteenth Amendment and thereby abolish slavery, after which she helped form the American Woman Suffrage Association, which built support for a woman suffrage Constitutional amendment by winning woman suffrage at the state and local levels. Stone wrote extensively about a wide range of womens rights, publishing and distributing speeches by herself and others, and convention proceedings. In the long-running and influential Womans Journal, a weekly periodical that she established and promoted, Stone aired both her own and differing views about womens rights. Called the orator, the morning star and the heart and soul of the womens rights movement, Stone influenced Susan B. Anthony to take up the cause of womens suffrage. Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that Lucy Stone was the first person by whom the heart of the American public was deeply stirred on the woman question. Together, Anthony, Stanton, and Stone have been called the 19th century triumvirate of womens suffrage and feminism.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 05:04:46 +0000
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