Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony were both key players in the first wave of the feminist movement in the United States. The two women had very different achievements but were both critical to the effort in which women won the right to vote.
Sojourner Truth joined “Northampton Association of Education and Industry” in 1843. This was an group that fought for women’s rights. She delivered many speeches over her lifetime, but “Ain’t I a woman?” was her most famous, which she gave in 1851. The speech implied that she didn’t fit the stereotype of a woman but still was female. She made the point that black women were adept at hard labour and that this fact made women of all colours equal to men (Bekhsoos).
Susan Brownell Anthony lived a busy life and achieved a great deal regarding the early wave feminist movement, actively campaigning for women's suffrage and equal pay (Winning The Vote). She regularly gave lectures on women's rights and arranged a succession of conventions on the subject, both state and national (Gale). She collected signatures for a petition to grant women the right to vote and to own property. She supported the administration of President Lincoln in founding the Women's Loyal League. In 1866 Anthony joined with some other women in creating the American Equal Rights Association and, in 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association (Winning The Vote). Additionally, Anthony co-founded Revolution which was a women’s rights journal.
Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony were both pioneers in the early feminist movement of the nineteenth century and contributed to women winning the right to vote. Independent and forward thinking, they arguably changed the course of the feminist movement in the United States.
Works Cited
Bekhsoos. “Biography of a Feminist: Sojourner Truth.” 2009. Web. 11 Feb 2012.
http://www.bekhsoos.com/web/2009/12/biography-of-a-feminist-sojourner-truth/
Gale Cengage Learning. “Susan B Anthony.” Web. 11 Feb 2012.
http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/whm/bio/anthony_s.htm
Lkwdpl. “Sojourner Truth.” 2011. Web. 11 Feb 2012.
http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/trut-soj.htm
Winning the Vote. “Susan Brownell Anthony.” 2011. Web. 11 Feb 2012.
http://www.winningthevote.org/sbanthony.html
