Editing Susan B. Anthony (section)

====Anti-slavery activities====
In 1837, at age 16, Anthony collected petitions against slavery as part of organized resistance to the newly established [[Gag rule#United States|gag rule]] that prohibited anti-slavery petitions in the U.S. House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Anti-Slavery Impulse: 1830–1844 |last=Barnes |first=Gilbert Hobbs |year=1964 |publisher=Harcourt, Brace & World |location=New York |page= 143}} This citation references the 1964 edition of a book that was first published in 1933 by the American Historical Association.</ref>
In 1851, she played a key role in organizing an anti-slavery convention in Rochester.<ref>McKelvey (April 1945)], [https://www.libraryweb.org/~rochhist/v7_1945/v7i2.pdf#page=6 p. 6].</ref> She was also part of the [[Underground Railroad]]. An entry in her diary in 1861 read, "Fitted out a fugitive slave for Canada with the help of [[Harriet Tubman]]."<ref>Harper (1898–1908), Vol. 1, [https://archive.org/stream/lifeandworksusa00unkngoog#page/n273/mode/2up p. 216].</ref>

[[File:Susan B Anthony 2.jpg|thumb|right|Susan B. Anthony]]
In 1856, Anthony agreed to become the New York State agent for the [[American Anti-Slavery Society]] with the understanding that she would also continue her advocacy of women's rights.<ref>Barry (1988), p. 110.</ref>
Anthony organized anti-slavery meetings throughout the state under banners that read "No compromise with slaveholders. Immediate and Unconditional Emancipation."<ref>Harper (1898–1908), Vol. 1, [https://archive.org/stream/lifeandworksusa00unkngoog#page/n267/mode/2up, p. 208].</ref>

In 1859, [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] was executed for leading a violent [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry|raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry]] in what was intended to be the beginning of an armed slave uprising. Anthony organized and presided over a meeting of "mourning and indignation" in Rochester's [[Corinthian Hall (Rochester, New York)|Corinthian Hall]] on the day of his execution to raise money for Brown's family.<ref>Harper (1898–1908), Vol. 1, [https://archive.org/stream/lifeandworksusa00unkngoog#page/n237/mode/2up  pp. 180–181].</ref>

She developed a reputation for fearlessness in facing down attempts to disrupt her meetings, but opposition became overwhelming on the eve of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Mob action shut down her meetings in every town from Buffalo to Albany in early 1861. In Rochester, the police had to escort Anthony and other speakers from the building for their own safety.<ref>Harper (1898–1908), Vol. 1, [https://archive.org/stream/lifeandworksusa00unkngoog#page/n267/mode/2up, pp. 208, 209].</ref> In Syracuse, according to a local newspaper, "Rotten eggs were thrown, benches broken, and knives and pistols gleamed in every direction."<ref>{{cite news|title=none|newspaper=The Post Standard|location=Syracuse, NY|date=February 4, 1940|page=18}}, quoted in Barry (1988), p. 148.</ref>

Anthony expressed a vision of a racially integrated society that was radical for a time when abolitionists were debating the question of what was to become of the slaves after they were freed, and when people like [[Abraham Lincoln]] were calling for African Americans to be shipped to newly established colonies in Africa. In a speech in 1861, Anthony said, "Let us open to the colored man all our schools ... Let us admit him into all our mechanic shops, stores, offices, and lucrative business avocations ... let him rent such pew in the church, and occupy such seat in the theatre ... Extend to him all the rights of Citizenship."<ref>Manuscript of speech in the Susan B. Anthony Papers collection at the Library of Congress. Quoted in McPherson (1964), [https://books.google.com/books?id=fdE1jAheJwkC&pg=PA225 p. 225].</ref>

The relatively small women's rights movement of that time was closely associated with the American Anti-Slavery Society led by [[William Lloyd Garrison]]. The women's movement depended heavily on abolitionist resources, with its articles published in their newspapers and some of its funding provided by abolitionists.<ref>DuBois (1978), [https://archive.org/details/feminismsuffrage00dubo_0/page/51 p. 51].</ref> There was tension, however, between leaders of the women's movement and male abolitionists who, although supporters of increased women's rights, believed that a vigorous campaign for women's rights would interfere with the campaign against slavery. In 1860, when Anthony sheltered a woman who had fled an abusive husband, Garrison insisted that the woman give up the child she had brought with her, pointing out that the law gave husbands complete control of children. Anthony reminded Garrison that he helped slaves escape to Canada in violation of the law and said, "Well, the law which gives the father ownership of the children is just as wicked and I'll break it just as quickly."<ref>Harper (1898–1908), Vol. 1,  [https://archive.org/stream/lifeandworksusa00unkngoog#page/n263/mode/2up p. 204].</ref>

When Stanton introduced a resolution at the National Woman's Rights Convention in 1860 favoring more lenient divorce laws, leading abolitionist [[Wendell Phillips]] not only opposed it but attempted to have it removed from the record.<ref>Dudden (2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=7-XV-oP9UFUC&pg=PA36 p. 36]. The proposal for more lenient divorce laws was also controversial among women activists.</ref> When Stanton, Anthony, and others supported a bill before the New York legislature that would permit divorce in cases of desertion or inhuman treatment, [[Horace Greeley]], an abolitionist newspaper publisher, campaigned against it in the pages of his newspaper.<ref>Stanton, Anthony, Gage (1881–1922), Vol. 1, [https://archive.org/stream/historyofwomansu01stanuoft#page/744/mode/2up pp. 745–46].</ref>

Garrison, Phillips and Greeley had all provided valuable help to the women's movement. In a letter to [[Lucy Stone]], Anthony said, "The Men, even the ''best'' of them, seem to think the Women's Rights question should be waived for the present. So let us do our own work, and in our own way."<ref>Letter from Anthony to Lucy Stone, October 27, 1857, quoted in Sherr (1995), p. 54.</ref>

On February 13, 1928, Representative [[Charles Hillyer Brand]] gave a "brief statement of the life and activities" of Anthony—partly titled "militant suffragist"—in which he noted that in 1861, Anthony was "persuaded to give up preparations for the annual women's rights convention to concentrate on work to win the war, though she was not misled by the sophistry that the rights of women would be recognized after the war if they helped to end it."<ref>{{cite web |title=69 Cong. Rec. (Bound) - Volume 69, Part 3 (February 1, 1928 to February 23, 1928) |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-CRECB-1928-pt3-v69 |website=GovInfo.gov |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=3060–3061}}</ref>