Abolitionist and Suffragist Lucy Stone was born on August 13, 1818, in West Brookfield, Massachusetts. Stone dedicated her life to helping women receive the same rights as men. She was the first woman from her state to earn a college degree and is considered the “heart and soul” of the women’s rights movement.
Author and activist Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was born on August 10, 1858, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She fought for education for women and African Americans and is often called the “Mother of Black Feminism.”
Ida Bell Wells was born July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, just before President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. Wells was an early leader in the Civil Rights and Women’s Suffrage movements, as well as a founder of the NAACP.
Illustrator and writer Rose Cecil O’Neill was born on June 25, 1874, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. O’Neill was the highest-paid female illustrator of her time, most famous for creating Kewpie, the most well-known cartoon character until Mickey Mouse.
On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment went into effect, granting women’s suffrage.
Journalist Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864, in Cochran’s Mills, Pennsylvania.
Poet, author, and activist Julia Ward Howe died on October 17, 1910, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
Future President John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born on Independence Day, July 4, 1872. He spent his early years in the New England town of Plymouth Notch, Vermont.
On December 10, 1869, the Wyoming territory became the first government in the US to grant women the right to vote.