Stanton Day (redirected from Elizabeth Cady Stanton Day)

Stanton (Elizabeth Cady) Day

November 12

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) was a pioneer in the struggle for women's rights. After graduating from the Troy Female Academy (now known as the Emma Willard School), one of the first schools devoted to providing better education for women, she married journalist and abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton—although she carefully omitted the word "obey" from their wedding ceremony.
With a group of other women, she helped organize the first women's rights convention, held at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. This is where Stanton drew up her famous bill of rights for women, which included the first formal demand for women's suffrage in the United States. But it was her partnership with Susan B. Anthony, beginning in 1851, that galvanized the women's rights movement. Together they organized the National Woman Suffrage Association, planned suffrage campaigns, spoke out in favor of liberal divorce laws, and fought for political, legal, and industrial equality for women. Stanton died, however, 18 years before the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, became law in 1920.
Governor Herbert Lehman of New York declared November 12 Elizabeth Cady Stanton Day in 1941. Stanton's birthday has long been observed by women's rights groups throughout the United States, particularly the National Organization for Women (NOW).

CONTACTS:
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20540
202-707-5510; fax: 202-707-2076
www.loc.gov
Women's Rights National Historic Park
National Park Service
136 Fall St.
Seneca Falls, NY 13148
315-568-2991; fax: 315-568-2141
www.nps.gov
Public Broadcasting Service
1320 Braddock Pl.
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-739-5000
www.pbs.org

SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 767
AnnivHol-2000, p. 190
(c)

Celebration day: Nov 12