A Suffragist's House
On Madison Street in Rochester, New York, is a large, red brick house built in the mid-1800s. Some of the most important people in United States history were once regular guests in this house, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass, a former slave who fought to end slavery.
Who lived here? Susan B. Anthony, whose face appears on the silver dollar. Anthony was a leader in the struggle for women's suffrage. Suffrage is the right to vote. In 1872 police arrested Anthony in the front room of this house. Her crime? She had voted in a national election. At the time, only men could vote and hold public office.
Repairing the Past
Anthony's house is now a museum. Museum officials recently completed renovating the outside of the house. They now plan to spend $250,000 to renovate the inside of the house, which is in disrepair. Loose plaster hangs from the ceilings of a bedroom and the famous front room. Other rooms need repairs, too.
“Our goal is to inspire and influence our guests,” Patrice Sampson-Bouchard, executive director of the house, told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “And this interior work that will be started is a wonderful way for us to continue that inspiration and influence.”
Right to Vote
Born in 1820, Anthony was raised to speak her mind and take an active role in the world. When she grew up, Anthony became a teacher. At that time women were paid less than men who did the same job. Anthony thought this was unfair. Once, she lost her job because she complained.
After ten years of teaching, Anthony decided to work full time for change. She believed that the only way women would be treated the same as men was if they could vote. She concentrated her efforts on winning that right.
Suffrage Headquarters
With the help of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anthony worked hard for women's suffrage. Anthony traveled the country giving speeches. When she got older, Anthony did much of her work from her Rochester home. The second-floor study was her office. There, she masterminded suffrage protests and campaigns. Sleepy, hard-working volunteers often slept on the floor.
Anthony died in her home on March 13, 1906. Thousands of people traveled through a blizzard to attend her funeral. At the time, some people feared the women's suffrage movement had died with Anthony.
Victory
They were wrong. By 1920, most Americans agreed that keeping women from voting was unfair. In that year the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was approved. It recognized women's right to vote. Anthony's restored house will keep alive the memory of its owner and her fight for suffrage.