Lucy Stone Thesis

530 Words2 Pages

“I think, with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all in public has been earned.” (www.doonething.org). Lucy Stone was born in West Brookfield, Massachusetts on August 13, 1818. Her parents, Francis Stone and Hannah Matthews, were abolitionists and Congregationalists. Stone retained their anti-slavery opinions but rejected the Congregationalist Church after it criticized abolitionists. Along with her anti-slavery attitude, Lucy Stone also pursued a higher education. She completed local schools at the age of sixteen and saved money until she could attend a term at Mount Holyoke Seminary five years later. In 1843, Stone enrolled at the Oberlin Collegiate Institute (later Oberlin College). With her graduation in 1847, she became the first Massachusetts woman to earn a bachelor’s degree. However, Lucy Stone was not done expressing her abolitionist and feminist beliefs to the public (anb.org). Lucy Stone was a key figure in both the women’s rights and abolition movements. She gave her first speech on women's rights in December 1847. The next year, Stone was hired as an agent for the Garrisonian Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. In 1855, Stone delayed giving speeches when she married Henry B. Blackwell, a fellow abolitionist. Blackwell agreed with Lucy Stone’s stands against inequalities with husbands and wives and even supported her when she kept her maiden name as her legal signature. Despite the …show more content…

A key figure in both the women’s rights and abolition movements, she brought them from lectures to full organizations. Stone died before women earned the right to vote, nevertheless, she was still a major influence. Nowadays, women have much more rights because of efforts put in by many reformers, including Lucy

Open Document