Taking Charge: The Legacy of Lucy Stone

 

    Lucy Stone is a lesser known female rights activist that helped create the world that we know today. Stone dedicated her entire life to deconstructing gender norms. Stone was born in Massachusetts in  the year 1818 on the 13th of August to Francis and Hannah Matthews Stone. Her parents were New England Famers who had a total of nine children. The first of her ancestors arrived in 1635 in search of religious freedom. Stone was "raised in the Congregational Church and embraced in her father's anti-slavery zeal" ("Lucy Stone"). 

    Stone noticed that there was a push for her brothers to attend college, but not for her. At 16 years old, Stone worked as a teacher to save money to attend college (Michals). When she was 25 years old, she attended Oberlin where she studied Greek and Hebrew (Michals). Stone went on to become "the first Massachusetts woman to earn a college degree" ("Lucy Stone"). Unfortunately, Oberlin did not support Stone's passion for public speaking. "When she graduated in 1847, she declined the "honor" of writing a commencement speech that would be read by a man ("Lucy Stone"). Stone was only willing to write the speech if she was the one would be allowed to read it. 

    After she graduated at almost 30 years old, she was unsure of what direction her career was going due to the limited options women had at that time. Fortunately, a well-known abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison gave Stone a job in his American Anti-Slavery Society. Stone's job was to write and deliver speeches regarding abolitionism. "Her natural eloquence drew large crowds, through she often had to face hostility" ("Lucy Stone"). Unfortunately, Stone was even once attacked by a mob ("Lucy

Stone"). While Stone was performing these tasks for the society, she began becoming interested in women's rights as well. "In 1850, she helped organize a women's right convention in Worchester, Massachusetts" ("Lucy Stone"). This was considered to be the first national convention and the speech that Stone delivered at the convention recruited Susan B. Anthony to be an advocate for women's rights ("Lucy Stone"). Even with all of the hostility that Stone faced, she was so successful that she was soon making more money than most male lecturers were at the time. After she spoke at the convention Worchester, Stone continued to lecture throughout the US and Canada for the next five years ("Lucy Stone"). "She continued to attend annual women's rights conventions and presided over the seventh one" ("Lucy Stone"). 

    Eventually, Stone met Henry Blackwell "who convinced her to marry him by promising they could create an egalitarian marriage" ("Lucy Stone"). They wrote their vows, planning to publish them, without the "then-common reference to wifely obedience and included a protest against marital law" ("Lucy Stone"). Along with the her feminist vows, she made the decision to keep her maiden name. This created the trend of referring to women who keep their maiden name as "Lucy Stoner" (Michals).Stone went on to give birth to two children while living in New Jersey. Unfortunately, her second child did not survive ("Lucy Stone"). Her daughter also "became a feminist and abolitionist, working alongside her parents" ("Lucy Stone"). 

    When the Civil War ended, Stone focused on the referendum for suffrage in Kansas ("Lucy Stone") She also spend time as "president of the New Jersey Women Suffrage Association and helped organize the New England association, in which she would be active after the family moved to Boston in 1869" ("Lucy Stone"). She also was on the executive committee of the American Equal Rights Association.

After the 14th and 15th Amendments passed, Stone decided to no longer associate with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and other similar activists. "Stone was willing to accept this measure for her abolitionist goals while continuing to work for women's suffrage" (Michals). She went on to "take the lead in organizing the American Woman Suffrage Association" (Michals). Stone and her husband went on to found and edit the American Woman Suffrage Association's weekly newspaper that was responsible for giving a voice to the women's movement (Michals). This group was considered the most moderate in the movement and went against the views of other suffragists. "Stone gave her last speech in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition, and died later that year at age seventy-five (Michals). 

    Lucy Stone is not the most well known activist in history. Regardless, she did so much for women and set an example for women today. Stone made sure to stay sound in her own beliefs, even if it went against the beliefs of those around her. She was a strong, intelligent women who did not let the world tell her what to be. She is a role model for all women and activists today.

Works Cited 

(2) Blackwell, Emily. Group Portrait of Members of the Blackwell and Spofford Families Outside on a Lawn. 1080. Library of Congress. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012647968/?loclr=blogloc. Accessed 12 February 2021.

"Lucy Stone." National Women's Hall of Fame, https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/lucy-stone/. Accessed 12 February 2021.

(1) Lucy Stone. 1847. Oberlin College Archives, Ohio. Oberlin College, https://www2.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/OYTT-images/LucyStone.html. Accessed 12 February 2021.

Michals, Debra. "Lucy Stone." National Women's History Museum, 2017. https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/lucy-stone/. Accessed 12 February 2021.

(3) Women's Journal and Suffrage News. 1983. Library of College. National Women's History Museum,  http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/awsa-organize. Accessed 12 February 2021.