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“When men and women think about a new question the first step in progress is taken Elizabeth Cady Stanton penned those words in 1848, several months after the Seneca Falls convention, the meeting that sparked the long struggle to achieve the vote for women in the United States. Like her close collaborator, Susan B Anthony Stanton strived tirelessly to attain suffrage for women she and Anthony did not live to see their vision of women as voters realize but they knew their cause would one day succeed and they encouraged legions of suffrages to follow in their way. Victory was at last achieved in 1920 when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment. This film "One woman one vote" tells the story of the journey from Seneca Falls in 1848 to Nashville in 1920. It reminds us of the immense commitment, persistence and fortitude needed to gain, for half the population, the most fundamental right of citizenship. It is a hopeful story but beyond the vote, much remains to be done to achieve equal citizenship status for women in all aspects of human endeavor.” -Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Alexander Street 2020)
There have surely been many popular friendships throughout the centuries. There's the 40-year-long friendship between British actors Sir Ian Mckellen and Sir Patrick Stewart and Friends' co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox that's lasted almost 30 years. I would argue that the extraordinary 50-year-long friendship between Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony is perhaps one of the lesser well-known friendships but remains one of the most impactful ones. Growing up, I watched Disney's Mary Poppins and it was in that film I discovered what a suffragette was and fought for women to gain the right to vote. As a child, I didn't care or understand why voting was important or think too hard on why women had to fight to vote. The older I got, the more I learned about the movement and several of their leaders such as Alice Paul and Emmeline Pankhurst. It took a while for me to learn about the significance of Stanton and Anthony, especially when they are arguably the first women's rights activists. In the documentary film, One Woman, One Vote, the audience explores their friendship and partnership that started in the early 1850s and gradually makes its way to 1920, when the 19th Amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote (Alexander Street).
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| Susan B. Anthony (Left) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Right) |
In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was only 32 years old when she held the Seneca Falls Convention, the first woman's rights convention, in New York. This meeting would spark the long struggle to achieve the vote for women in the United States. By this time, Stanton already had children which made it difficult for her to leave her home and advocate for women's rights but she made her voice heard by writing articles, letters, and attending local meetings. In 1851, Stanton would meet Susan B. Anthony, a 31-year-old school teacher from Rochester, New York, during one of these assemblies (Alexander Street). As Anthony never married or had children, it was much easier for her to travel and help spread awareness and gather supporters. Eventually the two created The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) with Stanton as President in 1869 before merging with The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) in 1890 to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The two supported each other through thick and thin, whether it was Anthony facing jail time and fines for gathering women to vote in 1871 or Stanton creating The Woman's Bible, an examination of the Bible's teachings on women, that was censured by the rest of NAWSA (Shaw, S. M., & Lee, J.).
Sadly, neither woman would live long enough to witness the 19th Amendment as Stanton died in 1902 and Anthony in 1906. Their efforts wouldn't be in vain as they inspired hundreds of women to continue on after their passing such as Harriot Eaton Blatch, another well-known women's rights activist as well as Stanton's youngest daughter (Alexander Street). It could have taken even longer for the 19th Amendment to pass had Anthony not been at the assembly in 1851. Without Anthony at Stanton's side, it may have been more of a challenge for Stanton to have her voice heard. Without Stanton and Anthony, we may never have gotten suffrage leaders such as Carrie Chapman Catt, Anna Howard Shaw, or Alice Paul. Their friendship impacted history and helped give women the right to vote. While their friendship may never be fully appreciated, it is one that should never be forgotten.
Work Cited
Alexander Street. (2020). One Woman, One Vote. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://video-
alexanderstreet-com.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/watch/one-woman-one-vote-2/details?
context=channel:elizabeth-cady-stanton
Shaw, S. M., & Lee, J. (n.d.). What Are the Myths Associated with Feminism? In Gendered
Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings (pp. 1–27). essay, Oxford
University Press.
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