Malaki Moore

Stephen Jay Gould said, “I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” Mary Ann Shadd Cary fits this description, she was not recognized in her field as many things because she was a black female. Her work as an abolitionist is overlooked because of her gender.

Mary Ann was born on October 9, 1823 in Wilmington, Delaware. Mary Ann was born into a freed former slave family; living in the north she still faced racism and segregation. The Shadd family household served as home for many fugitive slaves. Shadd grew up and continued her work as an anti-slavery activist and became the first female African American newspaper activist, which she used to inform black people around the country. She used her newspaper to encourage African Americans to make the move to Canada when the Fugitive Slave Law was passed. With her newspaper, Mary Ann had a voice in the country. Mary Ann went to Quaker boarding school and later started her own school for all races.

After the Civil war, Mary Ann graduated with a law degree from Harvard. She was the second African American woman to receive a law degree. Mary Ann became an abolitionist after receiving her law degree, in a group dominated by men. She didn't let this stop her from having a voice. She told African Americans that: “We should do more and talk less”. She wanted to spark a change in the society. Mary Ann was denied the right to vote like all women during this time, but her voice was also denied because of her race. In history, we learn nothing about this great woman even though she did great things, just like any other male did.

“Men their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights nothing less,” Susan B. Anthony, the pioneer of the woman suffrage movement said this and inspired list of women suffragists. Susan B. Anthony was born February 15, 1820 in Adams Massachusetts. She was born into a Quaker family. Quakers had a strong belief that all humans were equal under god's eye. This inspired young Susan and she became an abolitionist. She had six siblings who fought for civil rights and justice. At just 17, she was having people sign petitions to end slavery. Susan went to a prestigious boarding school in Philadelphia but did not attend college –– at the time only one college accepted women, Oberlin College in Ohio. Even with a college degree Susan wouldn't have been able to get a well paying job.

She later met Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, which influenced further her movement to end Slavery. She traveled the world giving powerful persuasive speeches for both civil rights and women's suffrage. Women giving speeches at this time was improper but this did not stop Susan from speaking her truth and what she believed. In 1848, a group of women held the first woman's rights convention at Seneca falls, Susan did not attend. In 1851, Susan met another woman's right activist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The two worked together for 50 years traveling around the world demanding women's rights. Many times Susan risked being arrested because men wanted to silence her powerful voice and what she spoke for. Susan and Stanton co-founded the American Equal Rights Association and became the editors of the newspaper to spread the word of women rights and expand the fight for women's suffrage.

Susan  was admired because of her efforts for women's rights and ideas.The 15th amendment was passed which gave African American males the right to vote. Susan was upset about it and wanted to find a way to separate the women's suffrage from civil rights. This led Susan to creating the National Woman Suffrage Movement, to push congress to pass an amendment that gave women the right to vote. Susan wanted to take a larger step for woman, and in 1872, Susan was arrested for voting illegally. She was charged and fined a $100. This sparked awareness of the women's suffrage movement on a national level. In 1876, she brought every woman suffrage supporter together and led a protest at the centennial of our nation's independence.

Susan was known as the “pioneer crusader” of women's suffrage. Susan died 14 years before Women's suffrage was given through the 19th amendment. During Susan's time period, women were to live in traditional families. With men supposed to have a job to support the family while the women were supposed to stay home cook, clean, and take care of the kids. Women weren't given the right to vote because they were seen as “childlike and incapable of independent thought.” Women were believed to not be responsible enough to vote. Women were seen as not fit to hold a job and were given a role as housewives. Susan is known as the founder of the women's suffrage movement. With Susan's great speeches and protests, woman suffrage was seen as a reality. Susan went against what the role of women was supposed to be and went out and fought for what she believed was right.

From writing these two essays I’ve learned a lot about the importance of voting and the struggles women had throughout history. This project has changed my view on what a vote is, a vote is a person's voice, it’s a way for them to express themselves in what they believe in. This project made me understand why women were so determined to get the right to vote. Women needed to be Seen equal to man and great women like Susan B. Anthony fought for this reason. Women were objectified and seen as a property of men, great women spoke out against this. This project taught me to speak out for what matters and that anyone can do it. Before this project, I took voting for granted now I understand the importance of having a voice in anything not just voting. These women I and my peers’ study fought against the stereotypes, or just staying home cleaning and taking care of kids. They took a stand for what they believed was right. This project motivated me to one day fight for something I believe in. From this project, I’ve realized there are many great women that brought a change to our society that we don't often learn about, like Mary Ann Shadd Cary who was the first African American female newspaper editor. We should study more about the great women who brought a change to our society. I have found and all new appreciation for our great women of history.