Susan B. Anthony was a great activist because of her dedicated, independent and headstrong nature which made her fight hard for women’s rights. She made an impact in the Gilded Age because she and other suffragettes fought for women’s rights. Whether she made a good impact and sped up the process of gaining rights or slowed it down is unclear. She sadly did not live to see the 19th Amendment, and died on March 13, 1906 in Rochester, New York. To remember her, President Jimmy Carter put her on a one dollar coin. Also, many women commemorate her by putting “I voted” stickers on her grave.
Susan B. Anthony was born February 15, 1820. She grew up in a Quaker family, where the mom and dad both were abolitionists and suffragists. She was independent because she did not depend on anyone other than herself. Her independence made her realize how much women needed to be in control of their own life. She became a teacher but decided she didn’t prefer that career and and became devoted to the temperance movement. It banned the consumption of alcohol to end the abuse that drunk men gave their wives and children. She never married, to stay independent.
Susan’s headstrong nature caused her to become an effective activist who wasn’t afraid to get arrested. She barged through and didn’t care what other people said. She always put up a fight. In 1852 she went to a meeting in New York for the temperance movement and met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They became collaborators. Then Susan went to another temperance meeting later that year and they only allowed the women to “listen and learn”, not to speak. She became indignant and started her own group. Later, she changed to fighting for women’s suffrage. The newspapers would say bad things about her, like she was “shrewish” and “repulsive”, but she didn’t get affected.
Susan was a dedicated person. She was dedicated because she stuck to her cause despite being arrested or looked down upon. It made her a great activist because she wouldn’t give up. On November 1st, 1872, she read an article that urged citizens to vote. She and her friends went to a barbershop where you registered and demanded to be allowed to register. She read the 14th Amendment out loud and pointed out that nowhere it said that women couldn’t vote or that voting was restricted to only men. The registrars finally agreed and allowed them to sign up. The next day, 50 women also demanded to be allowed to register. When she actually cast a ballot, she got arrested because she wasn’t allowed to vote.