That Time Susan B. Anthony Came To Town

 

This snippet of from an old Potter Enterprise documents the 1880 visit of Women's Suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony to Coudersport.

There's a followup story on September 1, 1880.

A woman of the 21st century, and curious about Susan B. Anthony's topic, I put "Women Want Bread, Not The Ballot" into Google and what should pop up but this:

Women Want Bread, Not The Ballot: This speech was presented by Susan B. Anthony in various cities around the country. Background information and transcript compiled by Ida Husted Harper in "Life and Work of Susan B.Anthony," V2, Chapter XXVII (published 1898-1908).

The text of the speech is in this link to the Ken Burns Documentary Not For Ourselves Alone. 

This paragraph from Susan B. Anthony's 1880 speech seems eerily prescient in 2024 as a former president and his minions tirelessly manipulate voters even to the point of insurrection, not to mention voting against their own best interests.

"Insurrectionary and revolutionary methods of righting wrongs, imaginary or real, are pardonable only in the enslaved and disfranchised. The moment any class of men possess the ballot, it is their weapon and their shield. Men with a vote have no valid excuse for resorting to the use of illegal means to fight their battles. When the masses of wage-earning men are educated into a knowledge of their own rights and of their duties to others, so that they are able to vote intelligently, they can carry their measures through the ballot box and will have no need to resort to force. But so long as they remain in ignorance and are manipulated by the political bosses they will continue to vote against their own interests and turn again to violence to right their wrongs.