Anniversary of the First National Women's Rights Convention

 

The National Women’s Rights Convention (aka "Seneca Falls") was a series of important meetings in the United States that began on October 23, 1850 in Worcester, Massachusetts. The goal of these conventions was to discuss and promote equal rights for women.

At the meetings, women and men talked about many issues, such as women’s right to vote, own property, and receive education and fair pay. They also discussed marriage laws and ways to improve women’s position in society.

Leaders like Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass played key roles in organizing and speaking at the events.  Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote:

We hold these truths to be self-evident: 

that all men and women are created equal; 

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; 

that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

Susan B. Anthony, who was not at the first convention, later said it was reading this speech that converted her to the cause of women's rights.  As part of the net generation Carrie Chapman Catt continued the fight for women's suffrage into the 20th Century.

The conventions helped raise public awareness about women’s equality and inspired future movements, including the women’s suffrage movement, which eventually led to the right for women to vote in the United States.

POP QUIZ:

USCIS 100:48./128:63  There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote.  Describe one of them.

USCIS 100:77.  What did Susan B. Anthony do?

USCIS 128:99.   Name one leader of the women’s rights movement in the 1800s.

USCIS 128:102.   When did all women get the right to vote?