Women who sacrificed to create a better world
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
“Verily, the world waits the coming of some new element, some purifying power, some spirit of mercy and love. The voice of woman has been silenced in the state, the church, and the home, but man cannot fulfill his destiny alone, he cannot redeem his race unaided. … The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation, because in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source. It is vain to look for silver and gold from mines of copper and lead.” ECS
The Seneca Falls Convention, a two day conference attended by almost 200 participants, took place in the summer of 1848.
At the Convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments which detailed a list of grievances and statements of facts about the rights of women.
Susan B. Anthony
She was a contemporaneous advocate of the rights of women. Like Stanton, she was a vocal abolitionist, and could clearly see that until women were able to vote, their voice would not be taken seriously.
Anthony and Stanton together founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, and they collaborated to produce a weekly publication that advocated for women’s rights. Susan B. Anthony’s contribution in this arena is immense, far beyond the scope of this article. She was a pioneer and trailblazer in the march for the rights of women.
It would be difficult to overemphasize the vision of Tahirih, the early Babi poetess and advocate for women’s emancipation, and women’s rights advocates Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. These remarkable women worked to free their sisters—all the women of the world—from the yoke of oppression. The capacity to be able to see beyond one’s immediate circumstances and recognize that the current reality cannot and will not always prevail takes fortitude, courage and insight, and both Tahirih and Stanton had those qualities in great quantity.
Surely the souls of these two brave women were connected to realms beyond human conception and nurtured by a divine Source.