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Quick Facts
- NAME: Lucy Stone
- OCCUPATION: Women's Rights Activist, Journalist
- BIRTH DATE: August 13, 1818
- DEATH DATE: October 18, 1893
- EDUCATION: Oberlin College, Holyoke Seminary
- PLACE OF BIRTH: West Brookfield, Massachusetts
- PLACE OF DEATH: Dorchester, Massachusetts
Best Known For
Lucy Stone was a leading activist and pioneer of the abolition and women's rights movements.
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Play NowLucy Stone. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 04:30, May 20, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/lucy-stone-9495976.
Lucy Stone. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/lucy-stone-9495976 [Accessed 20 May 2013].
"Lucy Stone." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 20 2013, 04:30 http://www.biography.com/people/lucy-stone-9495976.
"Lucy Stone," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/lucy-stone-9495976 [accessed May 20, 2013].
"Lucy Stone," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/lucy-stone-9495976 (accessed May 20, 2013).
Lucy Stone [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 20] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/lucy-stone-9495976.
Lucy Stone, http://www.biography.com/people/lucy-stone-9495976 (last visited May 20, 2013).
Lucy Stone. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/lucy-stone-9495976. Accessed May 20, 2013.
Synopsis
Born in Massachusetts in 1818, Lucy Stone dedicated her life to improving the rights of American women. She supported the Women's National Loyal League, which was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and in 1866, she helped found the American Equal Rights Association. She also organized and was elected president of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association,
Quotes
"A wife should no more take her husband's name than he should hers. My name is my identity and must not be lost."
and spent her life serving the cause. Stone died 30 years before women were finally permitted to vote (August 1920), on October 18, 1893, in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Early Years
Influential women's rights activist and abolitionist Lucy Stone was born on August 13, 1818, in West Brookfield, Massachusetts. The sixth of Francis Stone and Hannah Matthews's nine children, Lucy Stone was steeped early on in life the virtues of fighting against slavery from her parents, both committed abolitionists. Smart and clearly driven, Stone was also unafraid to rebel against her parents' wishes. Having watched her older brothers attend college, the 16-year-old Stone defied her parents and pursued a higher education.
In 1839, Stone attended Mount Holyoke Seminary for just one term. Four years later, she enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio. While Oberlin touted itself as a progressive institution, the school did not offer a level playing field for women. As a result, the college denied Stone the opportunity to pursue her passion in public speaking. Undeterred, Stone, who paid her way through school, graduated in 1847 with honors, becoming the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a bachelor's degree.
Acclaimed Speaker
Under the direction of William Lloyd Garrison, whom she'd met while at Oberlin, Stone soon found work with the American Anti-Slavery Society. Her work with the organization tapped into her continued and heightened passion to eradicate slavery. It also launched her career as a public speaker.
While she was regularly heckled by opponents (she was even ex-communicated by the Congregational Church), Stone emerged as an outspoken voice in the anti-slavery movement and, more significantly, the women's rights cause.
In 1850, the pioneering Stone convened the first national Women's Rights Convention. Held in Worcester, Massachusetts, the event was hailed as a significant moment for American women, and Stone was a celebrated leader. He speech at the convention was reprinted in newspapers nationwide.
For the next five years, Stone, who was paid well for her speeches, kept up a relentless schedule, traveling throughout North America to lecture about women's rights while continuing to hold her annual convention.
Later, Stone worked extensively on suffrage issues in Kansas and became president of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association (which became the League of Women Voters of New Jersey in 1920). She also launched a New England chapter of the National Woman Suffrage Association and, in 1866, helped found the American Equal Rights Association.
Personal Life
In 1855, Stone married Henry Blackwell, a committed abolitionist who'd spent two long years trying to convince Stone to marry him.
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