1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy he Wilson. And this episode is 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:22,479 Speaker 1: inspired by me being a ding dong. So I was 5 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: talking with a person that I am close to recently 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: and I had a need to know her last name, 7 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: and I wasn't sure what it was. I know, this 8 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: sounds like I'm a horrible person, but hear me out. 9 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: She's been married twice once away's back when it was 10 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: pretty standard that most folks would take their husband's name. 11 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: Her second marriage was later enough that not everybody would 12 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: have done that. At that point, a couple of decades 13 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: had gone by, and I honestly could not remember if 14 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: she had chosen to change her name again or not. 15 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 2: I want to say, you're not the only person this is, 16 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 2: you know, well, like if you. 17 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: Have friends, like unless you really need their name for 18 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: like a legal reason or to fill out a form, yeah, 19 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: it's not always going to come up unless they actually say, hey, 20 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: my name is now right snakity doo, you'd be like, oh, 21 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,039 Speaker 1: that's so and so. So. That put me, though, in 22 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: the mind of just thinking about the practice of marriage 23 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 1: related name changes and how much it has changed in 24 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: our lifetime in terms of like being pretty normal for 25 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 1: people to not do it. But that made me think 26 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: of Lucy Stone, who did it when it was not 27 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: normal at all to keep your original name. 28 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 2: Uh. 29 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: And Lucy Stone is sometimes written about as like that 30 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: person that should be mentioned right alongside Lucretia Mott and 31 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Katie Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, but she often isn't. 32 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: That's a pretty valid point. She really was kind of 33 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: in right in the mix with all of them. She 34 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: did live an incredibly unique life for a woman of 35 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 1: her time and her station. She had a lot of gumption, 36 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: and she's one of those figures who is pretty central 37 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: to a lot of important US history moments. So now 38 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: we're going to give her her day. So. 39 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 2: Lucy Stone was born on August thirteenth, eighteen eighteen. Her parents, 40 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 2: Francis and Hannah matthew Stone, were farmers. They were members 41 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 2: of the Congregational Church and lived on four hundred acres 42 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 2: on Coy's Hill and west Brookfield, Massachusetts. Lucy was one 43 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 2: of their seven children, and according to the lore, when 44 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 2: Lucy was born her mother, Hannah said, Oh, dear, I'm 45 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 2: so sorry. 46 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: It's a girl. 47 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:33,959 Speaker 2: A woman's lot is so hard. 48 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: As a child, Lucy was often frustrated because she knew 49 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: that she was smarter than a lot of boys, including 50 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: her brothers, and while they were offered some educational opportunities 51 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: beyond like the basics, she and other girls and young 52 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: women just were not. At this point, Massachusetts offered primary 53 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: education to girls, which she got, but the idea of 54 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: higher learning for women not really a thing, and certainly 55 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: not in most farming communities. But this desire to get 56 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: more education for her was driven also just because she 57 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,519 Speaker 1: wanted to learn Hebrew and Greek, and she wanted to 58 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:16,919 Speaker 1: learn those languages because she wanted to read untranslated versions 59 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 1: of the Bible because she was real curious if the 60 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: original versions of it did indeed have that language that 61 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: gave men power over women, or if that was something 62 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: that got added in translation. And one of the drivers 63 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: of her interest in exploring that inequality of women and 64 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: the challenges they faced was because she watched her mother 65 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: work very very hard with very little help. She certainly 66 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: didn't get much credit and she didn't get much rest. 67 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: And she also saw this common occurrence happening in their community, 68 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: where a lot of women were being mistreated by their husbands, 69 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: and that was just kind of accepted as normal, and 70 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: she did not like it. And her father, even though 71 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: he was very pro abolition and very anti slavery, did 72 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: not feel any kind of good way about women being equal. 73 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: She later wrote of him, quote, there was only one 74 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 1: will in our home, and that was my father's. 75 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 2: In addition to being smart, Lucy was also a self starter. 76 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,280 Speaker 2: She took a teaching job at the age of sixteen 77 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 2: so she could save up money for college. It took 78 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 2: five years for her to save enough because she was 79 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,039 Speaker 2: not paid very much at all, but finally, at the 80 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 2: age of twenty one, she was able to enroll at 81 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 2: Mount Holyoaks Seminary for Women. Leading up to her entrance, 82 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 2: she got one of her brother's friends to tutor her 83 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 2: in math, Latin, and grammar, because she thought that her 84 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 2: exposure to and mastery of those subjects was really not 85 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 2: served well by her early schooling. Mount Holyoak it turned 86 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 2: out was not the best fit for Lucy. She had 87 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 2: expected it to be a lot more progressive regarding women's 88 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 2: equality than it was, and Lucy's abolitionist activism was not 89 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,479 Speaker 2: especially welcome. For example, she got in trouble because she 90 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 2: had her brother send her copies of William lud Garrison's 91 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,279 Speaker 2: The Liberator and then left them spread around the reading 92 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 2: room in the hopes that other students would read them. 93 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 2: But aside from her issues with authority there, unfortunately, there 94 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 2: was another obstacle that sidelined her education, and that was 95 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 2: that her sister, Rhoda, who had been ill for quite 96 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,480 Speaker 2: some time, died in July of eighteen thirty nine, and 97 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 2: Roda was an adult at this point. She had children 98 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 2: of her own when she died, and Lucy went home 99 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 2: to help with Rhoda's children and also to comfort their 100 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:36,919 Speaker 2: grieving mother, and she also went back to teaching. For 101 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 2: several years, she'd teach, save up all of her money, 102 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 2: and then spend a semester here and there at a 103 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 2: private school, first Wesleyan, then Monson Academy, and then finally 104 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 2: kvog Seminary. Four years after her time at Mount Holyoke, 105 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,599 Speaker 2: Lucy once again enrolled in college, this time at Oberlin College. 106 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 2: That's the first co educational school in the US, the 107 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,600 Speaker 2: only one at the time, having opened just ten years earlier, 108 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 2: in eighteen thirty three. 109 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: Even Oberlin was not the realization of Stone's hopes, though 110 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:11,359 Speaker 1: she had worked so hard to get there, and it 111 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:13,840 Speaker 1: was the first time that she had lived away from home. 112 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: She had left with ninety dollars in cash in her 113 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:19,919 Speaker 1: pocket to start this new phase of her life, and 114 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: she was one of seven women that were enrolled in 115 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: that first year. In her first year, we should say, 116 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: it was at the schools, and there were thirty four 117 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: male students. And Lucy was really really fretful about her 118 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,480 Speaker 1: finances because her father had paid for her brother's tuitions 119 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: for college, but he did not do the same for Lucy. 120 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: So she was really really diligent in seeking out additional 121 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: income to make sure she could stay in school this time, 122 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: including arranging to teach at Oberlin's preparatory school and at 123 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: the Liberty School, which was a town school for black students. 124 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: She also taught at the town's common schools when Oberlin 125 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: was on winter break. If this sounds like a lot 126 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: to have three jobs while you're going to school, it 127 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: was so much so that Lucy was often foregoing sleep 128 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:07,679 Speaker 1: to keep up on her study. She wrote about sometimes 129 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: only like sleeping two hours a night, and when her 130 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: father found all of this out, he actually wrote her 131 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: a very out of character letter in which he told 132 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: her that he did not want any of his children 133 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 1: to have to work the way he had when he 134 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: was young, and that he would help her with school 135 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: expenses through a loan. Lucy, though, preferred instead to lean 136 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: on her older siblings for financial help. She didn't accept 137 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: any help from her father until her senior year at Oberlin. 138 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 2: Lucy did very well academically, but she found some disappointment 139 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 2: in a couple of important areas. For one, though the 140 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 2: school admitted women and black students, it was less progressive 141 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 2: than what she wanted. Even most of the professed abolitionists 142 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 2: there among both the students and the staff, thought Garrison's 143 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 2: idea of abruptly ending slavery was too extreme. They were 144 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 2: not in favor of true equality for women either. She 145 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 2: described herself as quote at swords points with them, and 146 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 2: one Oberlin trustee described Lucy as having quote wild and 147 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 2: radical ideas. She had to appear before the Ladies Board 148 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 2: to defend her behavior regularly, whether it was taking off 149 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 2: her bonnet in church because she had a migraine or 150 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 2: the time, she told some of her fellow students that 151 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 2: people should not have children they couldn't afford. She also 152 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 2: advocated for male and female students who were working as 153 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 2: teachers in the college's preparatory school should be paid the 154 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 2: same wages. She was so aggressive in that pursuit that, 155 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 2: in an outcome that made her a legend at the school, 156 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:47,120 Speaker 2: four years the faculty board instituted equal pay for teachers. Yeah, 157 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 2: in reading some accounts of that, it sort of sounds 158 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 2: like the faculty board was just like whatever it takes 159 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 2: to shut Lucy Stone up at this point, like they 160 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 2: really gave it because she was so determined about it 161 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 2: and what she really wanted to pursue at college with 162 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 2: studies in public speaking. She wanted to follow in the 163 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 2: footsteps of other abolitionists like Abby Kelly and the Grimkey sisters. 164 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,199 Speaker 2: But those kinds of lessons in public speaking were not 165 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 2: offered to women. They could enroll in rhetoric classes, but 166 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 2: they were only allowed to observe the male students. Lucy 167 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 2: was not allowed to debate in class, and she was 168 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 2: not allowed to join the Debate Society while the school 169 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 2: was co ed. That group that was for male students only, 170 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,560 Speaker 2: so Lucy and one of her close friends started a 171 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,960 Speaker 2: secret women's debate society at the school. She is recorded 172 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,959 Speaker 2: as having stated at the group's first meeting, quote, we 173 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 2: shall leave this college with the reputation of a thorough 174 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 2: collegiate course. Yet not one of us has received any 175 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 2: rhetorical or elocutionary training. Not one of us could state 176 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 2: a question or argue it in a successful debate. For 177 00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 2: this reason, I have proposed the formation of this association. 178 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 2: In eighteen forty six, she made her first public speech 179 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 2: at a West Indian Independence Day celebration, where she addressed 180 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:11,199 Speaker 2: the black community of Oberlin in a speech she titled 181 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 2: why do we Rejoice Today? She was given a talking 182 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 2: to by the Lady's Board for her brazenness, but her 183 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 2: brilliance was recognized to some degree. In eighteen forty seven, 184 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:26,319 Speaker 2: the school asked her to write a speech for her graduation, 185 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 2: but she was not the one who would give that 186 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 2: speech that would be a male graduate, so she flatly 187 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 2: turned that down. But she did graduate at the ceremony 188 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,280 Speaker 2: at the age of twenty nine. Though it might have 189 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 2: seemed that Lucy was at this point very well educated, 190 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 2: for no real opportunities before her, she did find a 191 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 2: place in her chosen career. 192 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: Of public speaker. She was hired in eighteen forty eight 193 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 1: as a lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti Slavery Society, and 194 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:58,359 Speaker 1: she was paid six dollars a week. She traveled constantly, 195 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:02,960 Speaker 1: which was absolutely grueling, but she was very successful because 196 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 1: she was really great at connecting with audiences. Her anti 197 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: slavery upbringing, and her skills in oration and writing were 198 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 1: all of use. The society was also open to letting 199 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: her use some of her time not just for abolition 200 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: and anti slavery rhetoric, but also to advocate for women's rights. 201 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: But in order to make that deal, she had to 202 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: take a reduced rate of four dollars a week because 203 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: those speeches were taking away time from her abolition speeches. 204 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: This meant that she was making at that point a 205 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 1: pretty meager income, and at the urging of many other 206 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,199 Speaker 1: lecturers and speakers, she finally started charging a small fee 207 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: or passing a collection hat at her lectures. 208 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 2: Even with more money coming in, this was not an 209 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 2: easy job. Lucy became a public figure and a movement 210 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,559 Speaker 2: that had a lot of hostile detractors. She had books 211 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 2: and eggs thrown at her, had ice cold water turned 212 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 2: on her, had to run from the occasional angry mob. 213 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 2: She adopted the practice of wearing bloomers like a lot 214 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 2: of other women's rights activists did, and she was jeered 215 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 2: for doing so. There were plenty of people who were 216 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,320 Speaker 2: not in favor of abolition and certainly did not want 217 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:16,160 Speaker 2: to hear that message from a woman. Newspaper writeups would 218 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 2: describe her as ugly or manish, and she was accused 219 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 2: of having abandoned her womanly purpose. But she was also 220 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 2: praised by people like Frederick Douglas, who said she was 221 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 2: one of the most effective advocates for the cause. Over time, 222 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:32,720 Speaker 2: Lucy was getting so many invitations to lecture that she 223 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 2: left the Massachusetts Anti Slavery Society job and was working 224 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 2: essentially as an independent orator. Coming up, we're going to 225 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 2: talk more about Stone's work on the Woman's Rights Convention, 226 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,680 Speaker 2: and we'll get into that after we have a sponsor break. 227 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 2: Lucy was one of the organizers of the first National 228 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 2: Women's Rights Convention in Worcestern, Massachusetts, in eighteen fifty. This 229 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 2: was two years after the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention, 230 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:04,319 Speaker 2: which we've talked about on the show before, and which 231 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 2: Lucy did not attend. That superlative first of the eighteen 232 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:12,720 Speaker 2: fifty convention is based on it being considered a national convention, 233 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 2: whereas Seneca Falls was considered a local effort. Starting with 234 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 2: no money to host this national event, Lucy and her 235 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 2: fellow organizers advertised their need for donations, and contributions were 236 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 2: soon coming in. Everyone involved used their entire network of 237 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 2: connections both to get those donations and to invite attendees. 238 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 2: The lead up to the convention was difficult for Stone. 239 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 2: She wasn't able to be as active in the effort 240 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 2: as she had initially planned. Her brother Luther, who lived 241 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 2: in Illinois, died that summer of cholera, and his wife, Phoebe, 242 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 2: was pregnant. Lucy had been the only nurse maid at 243 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:56,200 Speaker 2: his deathbed for that reason. After he died, Lucy packed 244 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 2: Phoebe up to move her to Massachusetts, but just three 245 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 2: days into the journey, on August twenty third, Phoebe gave birth. 246 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,839 Speaker 2: Because baby was sadly stillborn, and Lucy and Phoebe stayed 247 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 2: in a hotel so Phoebe could regain some of her strength. 248 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 2: Then Lucy contracted typhoid while they were there. She did 249 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:17,199 Speaker 2: make it to Wooster on October twenty fourth for the 250 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 2: start of the convention, though, and that convention was well attended. 251 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: The eighteen fifty Convention is really a key moment in 252 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,320 Speaker 1: the movement for women's rights, and the introduction of the 253 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: idea that everything about the way the US operated needed 254 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: to be reorganized if it was going to be made equitable. 255 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 1: It called for in its resolutions quote equality before the law, 256 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: without distinction of sex or color. That meant that black 257 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,680 Speaker 1: women should be included in the efforts of the movement. Now, obviously, 258 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty this was not supported by everyone, and 259 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: it would become an issue of heated contention several years 260 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:57,000 Speaker 1: down the road. Even in the immediate wake of the convention, 261 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: reviews were mixed. There were plenty of newspaper accounts that 262 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 1: spoke derisively about the attendees and called the entire event trash. 263 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: But even within the women's rights movement, there were concerns 264 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: even outside those disagreements involving racial equality. Prior podcast subject 265 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Blackwell, for example, found the message of the entire 266 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: convention to be two quote anti Mam. 267 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 2: Among the attendees who signed the convention's resolution document were 268 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 2: many names you'll probably recognize, including some we've covered on 269 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 2: the show. This is not an exhaustive list, but they 270 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 2: included Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison, Sarah Earl, 271 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 2: Charles K. Whipple, and M. C. Goodwin. The next October 272 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty one, there was another National Convention in Worcester. 273 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,680 Speaker 2: In eighteen fifty two, it moved to Syracuse, and then 274 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:52,920 Speaker 2: in eighteen fifty three to Cleveland. In eighteen fifty four 275 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 2: it was in Philadelphia. 276 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,760 Speaker 1: The year after the first convention, Lucy was given an 277 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: audience at the Massachusetts State House, speaking before legislators and 278 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: imploring them to write full civil rights for women into 279 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:11,000 Speaker 1: the state constitution. That same year, Lucy met Henry Brown Blackwell. 280 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 1: He was the brother of Elizabeth Blackwell, and he was 281 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: very taken with Lucy. She was at this point quite famous, 282 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: and he may have been drawn to that, but he 283 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: was also completely entranced by her quote beauty, charm, and eloquence. 284 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: As he wrote to a friend after seeing her speak, 285 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:31,400 Speaker 1: he asked people that they had in common about her, 286 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: and while they told him she was not romantically linked 287 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: to anyone. They also told him that she was not 288 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 1: interested in becoming anyone's wife. He still pursued her, though 289 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: initially through letters, and after a month of writing back 290 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: and forth, he started hinting that she really should get 291 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,359 Speaker 1: married to someone someday. 292 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 2: Lucy Stone's feelings on marriage were still pretty negative. In 293 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 2: one of her letters to Henry, she wrote, quote, I 294 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:00,040 Speaker 2: have been all my life alone. I have planned and 295 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 2: executed without counsel and without control, and have shared thought 296 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 2: and feeling in life with myself alone. I have made 297 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 2: a path for my feet which I know is useful. 298 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:13,440 Speaker 2: It brings me a more intense and abundant happiness by 299 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,280 Speaker 2: far than comes to the life of the majority of men. 300 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 2: And it seems to me I cannot risk it by 301 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:23,439 Speaker 2: any change. And then I ask, can I dare change it? 302 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:28,719 Speaker 2: Rings an everlasting no. Henry persisted, and Lucy did soften 303 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 2: to him, and as the two kind of slowly fell 304 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:35,119 Speaker 2: in love, Henry offered Lucy an uncommon kind of marriage 305 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:37,679 Speaker 2: for the time. He told her he wanted one of 306 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 2: true equals. He wrote to her, quote equality with me 307 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,640 Speaker 2: is a passion. Henry uh is often described as kind 308 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 2: of a romantic one. Biographer described him as falling in 309 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 2: and out of love with a lot of young women. 310 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:54,720 Speaker 1: Prior to meeting Lucy, and in Lucy's case, her odd life, 311 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: famous but also a lonely outsider really fascinated him, and 312 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:03,560 Speaker 1: although she initially told him she wanted only friendship, he 313 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:05,920 Speaker 1: did things like go to her lectures. He actually helped 314 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: organize one of her tours, and then he invited her 315 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: to spend time in the Blackwell family home, and she 316 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,359 Speaker 1: really loved the family, and eventually she did agree on 317 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: a marriage of equals. 318 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 2: Lucy remained Lucy Stone after the wedding, keeping her own 319 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:23,400 Speaker 2: name instead of taking her husband's. 320 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: This was not. 321 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,440 Speaker 2: Initially the route she took, though She went by Blackwell 322 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,040 Speaker 2: for a little while, but decided to stick with Stone 323 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 2: after about a year of trying out the new name 324 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:37,359 Speaker 2: and carefully investigating the law to make sure there wasn't 325 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:40,480 Speaker 2: a legal requirement for a wife to take her husband's name. 326 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,359 Speaker 2: She asked people to address her not as missus Blackwell, 327 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,240 Speaker 2: but as missus Stone. In situations where it seemed like 328 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,600 Speaker 2: there might be a legal need to recognize the union, 329 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 2: she'd write her name as Lucy Stone, wife of Henry Blackwell. 330 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 2: Lucy and Henry carefully crafted their vows with the intent 331 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 2: that they would be published as an example of equal union. 332 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:08,120 Speaker 2: There was no mention of obeyance. Elizabeth Katie Stanton wrote 333 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 2: to Stone after the wedding quote, nothing has been done, 334 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:13,879 Speaker 2: and the women's rights movement for some time that so 335 00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 2: rejoiced my heart as the announcement by you of a 336 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,520 Speaker 2: woman's right to her name. Missus Stone and mister Blackwell 337 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:25,159 Speaker 2: did jointly publish a pamphlet regarding the inequity of marriage laws, 338 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 2: titled protest, and it read, in part quote, while acknowledging 339 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 2: our mutual affection by publicly assuming the relationship of husband 340 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,160 Speaker 2: and wife, yet in justice to ourselves and a great principle, 341 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,120 Speaker 2: we deem it our duty to declare that this act 342 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,600 Speaker 2: on our part, implies no sanction of, nor promise of 343 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:47,160 Speaker 2: voluntary obedience to such of the present laws of marriage, 344 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:51,399 Speaker 2: as refused to recognize the wife as an independent, rational being, 345 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 2: while they confer upon the husband an injurious and unnatural superiority, 346 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,080 Speaker 2: investing him with legal powers which no honorable man one 347 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:04,680 Speaker 2: would exercise, and which no man should possess. We protest, 348 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:08,679 Speaker 2: especially against the laws which give the husband one the 349 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,520 Speaker 2: custody of the wife's person, two the exclusive control and 350 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:16,640 Speaker 2: guardianship of their children, three, the sole ownership of her 351 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:20,639 Speaker 2: personal and use of her real estate, unless previously settled 352 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 2: upon her or placed in the hands of trustees. Four 353 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 2: the absolute right to the product of her industry. 354 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,199 Speaker 1: Five. Also against the laws which give the widower so 355 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,640 Speaker 1: much larger and more permanent an interest in the property 356 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: of his deceased wife than they give to the widow 357 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:41,760 Speaker 1: in that of the deceased husband. Six. Finally, against the 358 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,679 Speaker 1: whole system by which the legal existence of the wife 359 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: is suspended during marriage, so that in most states she 360 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:50,640 Speaker 1: neither has a legal part in the choice of her residence, 361 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: nor could she make a will, nor sue or be 362 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:58,720 Speaker 1: sued in her own name, nor inherit property. So, just 363 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: as a spoiler alert, this all sounds really idyllic. It 364 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: may have been for a time, but this marriage did 365 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:06,399 Speaker 1: have its problems, and we're going to talk about some 366 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:07,440 Speaker 1: of those in just a bit. 367 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 2: In the press, the wedding and the decision to keep 368 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,000 Speaker 2: Stone as her last name both got a lot of attention, 369 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 2: and a lot of that attention was negative, like why 370 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 2: would anyone want to marry Lucy Stone? She was seven 371 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:25,159 Speaker 2: years older than Henry, and journalists wrote about her like 372 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:29,040 Speaker 2: she was ancient. According to them, she clearly hated marriage 373 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:32,440 Speaker 2: and men, so why did she even bother? And they wondered, 374 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 2: especially if she didn't want to take his name. Lucy 375 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:39,320 Speaker 2: continued her lecture career and they used the Blackwell home 376 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,639 Speaker 2: as their home base because they traveled so much they 377 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 2: didn't really have time to settle anywhere else. Lucy's letters 378 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 2: to friends and family show her very happy to have 379 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 2: someone to share her life with. Lucy also wanted a 380 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 2: family very much. She had this vision of having four children, 381 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 2: and she and Henry had a daughter, Alice Stone Blackwell, 382 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:03,440 Speaker 2: on September fourteenth of eighteen fifty seven. They later expected 383 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,399 Speaker 2: a second child, but Lucy miscarried and they did not 384 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,720 Speaker 2: have any other children after that. When Alice was still 385 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 2: tiny and Lucy was stuck at home caring for an infant, 386 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 2: she decided to protest taxation by not paying property taxes. 387 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 2: Because as a woman, she was not represented in government, 388 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:23,840 Speaker 2: so this isn't a case where she just didn't pay 389 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 2: her taxes, which is sometimes how this is written. About 390 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 2: This was a thought out civil disobedience effort, and she 391 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 2: actually wrote the tax collector in Orange, New Jersey, where 392 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 2: they were living at the time, and explained this she 393 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,479 Speaker 2: would not be paying taxes because they were unjust to 394 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 2: half the population. As a consequence of this, the Stone 395 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,160 Speaker 2: Blackwell home was rated. Many of their possessions were seized, 396 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 2: and then when the furniture that had been taken was 397 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,400 Speaker 2: sold at auction, one of their neighbors bought it all 398 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:56,399 Speaker 2: and returned it to them. The marriage definitely experienced some strain. 399 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 2: Henry had made some investments that didn't really pay off. 400 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,359 Speaker 2: He had also gone to Chicago to work for a 401 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 2: friend for five months when Alice was still a baby, 402 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:08,360 Speaker 2: and he and Lucy missed each other terribly. He had 403 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,719 Speaker 2: to dip into Lucy's savings at times, and they downgraded 404 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,480 Speaker 2: their home to a smaller farmhouse to try to save money. Yeah, 405 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 2: he wasn't like taking that money from Lucy just of 406 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 2: his own volition. They discussed it and she was like, 407 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:22,400 Speaker 2: of course, you should take from some of the money 408 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,919 Speaker 2: that I have saved up. But it still was like 409 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 2: a thing of you know, not quite what they had 410 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 2: planned financially, having a child had also slowed Stone's activism considerably. 411 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,880 Speaker 2: She really did not trust anyone else to care for Alice, 412 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 2: so it wasn't like she could call someone to come 413 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 2: and watch the baby while she went and did work things. Then, 414 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 2: during the US Civil War, Lucy felt morally compelled to 415 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,960 Speaker 2: say nothing on the part of the war effort, even 416 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 2: in support of the Union, because she was a pacifist 417 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,280 Speaker 2: and thought all of it was wrong. She still supported 418 00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:00,000 Speaker 2: anti slavery efforts in other ways, including drumming up signatay 419 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 2: for abolitionist petitions. In the later years of the war, 420 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:08,200 Speaker 2: some of Henry's investment properties had finally started to pay off. 421 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 2: He had purchased quite a few investment properties over the years, 422 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 2: and he sold them at high profits during the war, 423 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,800 Speaker 2: and that gave the Stone Blackwell family a little bit 424 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,639 Speaker 2: of financial security for the first time since the couple 425 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 2: had wed. 426 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,439 Speaker 1: Though their finances were finally in order, though Lucy had 427 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 1: other challenges during this time. In eighteen sixty four, her 428 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:34,399 Speaker 1: father died. She was often in poor health that entire year. 429 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: She worried, of course, about the future of the country, 430 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,000 Speaker 1: and it also seems like she was really grappling with 431 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:44,320 Speaker 1: her identity when she was suddenly not doing the work 432 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 1: that she had been so driven to do for so 433 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:47,120 Speaker 1: many years. 434 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,160 Speaker 2: We're going to pause here for a moment and here 435 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,440 Speaker 2: from some of the sponsors that keep the show going, 436 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,960 Speaker 2: and when we come back, we will talk about Stone's 437 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 2: place in the rift in the women's rights movement in 438 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:07,160 Speaker 2: the US. 439 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 1: We have talked on the show before about the fissure 440 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: in the women's suffrage movement over the right to vote 441 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,240 Speaker 1: being granted to black men before white women. Lucy was 442 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: mostly and will describe this more carefully in a moment 443 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 1: on the side of the conflict within the group that 444 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,880 Speaker 1: thought it was okay for black men to gain more 445 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 1: rights through the fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments. So, for the 446 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,359 Speaker 1: very quickest recap, the fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, 447 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: passed by the Senate on June eighth, eighteen sixty six, 448 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: stated that everyone born in the US, including formerly enslaved people, 449 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: was a US citizen. And then the fifteenth Amendment, which 450 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: passed several years later on February twenty sixth, eighteen sixty nine, 451 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,959 Speaker 1: stated that all male citizens over the age of twenty 452 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,520 Speaker 1: one should be able to vote. This was the first 453 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: introduction of language about sex or gender into a constantitutional amendment, 454 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 1: and for many in the women's rights movement, they felt 455 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: that allowing this wording in the interest of conferring black 456 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 1: men rights would ultimately hurt the cause of women, and 457 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:16,280 Speaker 1: specifically white women. Elizabeth Katie Stanton is often quoted for 458 00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 1: her written commentary on the matter, quote if that word 459 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: mayle be inserted, it will take us a century at 460 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: least to get it out. 461 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 2: But Lucy Stone saw the suffrage movement as one whole, 462 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,199 Speaker 2: at least sort of, with any victory being part of 463 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:37,160 Speaker 2: forward progress, and as a lifelong abolitionist, she was also 464 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 2: supportive of black men's rights and of their gaining forward 465 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:45,399 Speaker 2: progressive ground. To be clear, though Stone had absolutely not 466 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 2: wanted abolitionists to favor the voting rights of black men 467 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 2: at the expense of women's suffrage, she was chagrined at 468 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 2: how that played out, but she did support the fifteenth 469 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 2: Amendment ultimately. 470 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,159 Speaker 1: As all of this was going on, there was a 471 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 1: very odd and unsettling move on the part of her husband, 472 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: Henry Blackwell. On January fifteenth, eighteen sixty seven, he wrote 473 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,199 Speaker 1: an open letter titled quote, what the South can do, 474 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: how the Southern States can make themselves masters of the 475 00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 1: situation to the legislatures of the Southern States, and in 476 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: it he makes a case that's really hard to square 477 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: with the abolitionist in women's rights values that he had 478 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,399 Speaker 1: been speaking about publicly his entire life. He wrote, quote, 479 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: the population of the late Slave States is about twelve million, 480 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:37,440 Speaker 1: eight million white, four million black. The radicals demand suffrage 481 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: for the black men on the ground named above. Very good. 482 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: Say to them, as mister Cowan said to the advocates 483 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,840 Speaker 1: of Negro male suffrage in the district, apply your principle, 484 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,879 Speaker 1: give suffrage to all men and women of mature age 485 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:53,479 Speaker 1: and sound mind, and we will accept it as the 486 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:58,520 Speaker 1: basis of state and national reconstruction. Consider the result from 487 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 1: the Southern standpoint. Your four millions of Southern white women 488 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,399 Speaker 1: will counterbalance your four millions of Negro men and women, 489 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 1: and thus the political supremacy of your white race will 490 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: remain unchanged. He also made the case that black people 491 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:16,720 Speaker 1: would eventually just leave because they would get sick of 492 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: all of this. 493 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 2: It's not clear to me from this writing whether he's 494 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 2: sort of trying to appeal to what he thinks will 495 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:32,680 Speaker 2: sway racists or if these are his opinions. Either way, 496 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 2: it's gross though. 497 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, even if he thinks he's like playing eight level 498 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: chess and that he's ahead of them and using their 499 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: own ideas against them, putting it in writing just creates 500 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 1: a big problem. Yeah. 501 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 2: So this is obviously a strange outlier in Blackwell's work 502 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 2: and makes it appear that while he may have supported 503 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 2: the anti slavery effort, that he also saw the black 504 00:28:55,440 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 2: population as inferior. Really no documentation about how Lucy felt about. 505 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:04,040 Speaker 1: This, No, that's like one of the great mysteries. In 506 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine, the division in the women's movement led 507 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,840 Speaker 1: to a formal split. Stone and Julia Ward Howe formed 508 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:16,040 Speaker 1: the American Women's Suffrage Association, while Elizabeth Katie Stanton and 509 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:21,280 Speaker 1: Susan B. Anthony launched the National Women's Suffrage Association. Both 510 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 1: of these organizations waxed and waned in their numbers over 511 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,040 Speaker 1: the years, and they sort of carved out turf in 512 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 1: terms of who was going to advocate for what. The 513 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 1: AWSA focused, for example, on getting suffrage passed at the 514 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: state level, working with advocates in each state, while the 515 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: NWSAY set its sites on national suffrage rights. In eighteen seventy, 516 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 1: Lucy and Henry moved to Dorchester, Massachusetts, and started working 517 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: closely with the New England Woman's Suffrage Association. The couple 518 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: also started publishing Woman's Journal, which was the American Women's 519 00:29:54,680 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 1: Suffrage Association periodical. When Massachusetts offered women p many strictly 520 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 1: regulated voting rights in eighteen seventy nine, Lucy's intent was 521 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:08,680 Speaker 1: that she would register, but she would be struck from 522 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: the voter roles because she had not changed her name 523 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:13,760 Speaker 1: to Henry's. She was told she was going to have 524 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: to sign the voting roles as Blackwell, which she refused 525 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 1: to do, so she did not get to vote. 526 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 2: In eighteen eighty three, an echo of Lucy's past emerged 527 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,520 Speaker 2: when she was asked by Oberlin College to compose a 528 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 2: commencement speech, just as she had when she was graduating. 529 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 2: This time, though she was invited to also give this speech. 530 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:38,760 Speaker 2: She accepted the invitation and was part of the school's 531 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:43,640 Speaker 2: fiftieth anniversary celebration. In eighteen ninety, the rift between the 532 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,719 Speaker 2: women that had founded the American Woman's Suffrage Association and 533 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 2: the National woman Suffrage Association was healed in large part 534 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 2: by the daughters of the original founders of those organizations. 535 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 2: Lucy's daughter, Alice Stone Blackwell and Elizabeth Gaty Stanton's daughter, 536 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 2: Harriet Stanton black bat worked to reunite the two groups 537 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 2: under the umbrella of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. 538 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 2: Elizabeth Katie Stanton was its president and Susan B. Anthony 539 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 2: was vice president. It is pretty widely accepted that Anthony 540 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,719 Speaker 2: was the actual leader of the group. In practice, Lucy 541 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 2: Stone was not active in the group though, because her 542 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:25,240 Speaker 2: health had really started to decline. This story will once 543 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 2: again intersect with another topic that came up recently in 544 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:32,920 Speaker 2: our episode on architect Louis Sullivan. That was the eighteen 545 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 2: ninety three Columbia Exposition. That event was the stage of 546 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 2: Lucy Stone's last public speech in May of eighteen ninety three. 547 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 2: Lucy had wanted to make additional speeches there later in 548 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:46,360 Speaker 2: the summer, but her health just did not allow for it. 549 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 2: In the autumn of that year, in September eighteen ninety three, 550 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 2: Lucy was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Ever pragmatic, she very 551 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,320 Speaker 2: carefully got all her affairs in order. Some of this 552 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,000 Speaker 2: meant that She was admonishing Henry not to stop looking 553 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:03,800 Speaker 2: after his own health because their daughter, Alice, who had 554 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 2: become an important collaborator in their work, was going to 555 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:09,320 Speaker 2: need him. And there were well wishes that poured in 556 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,959 Speaker 2: from all around the world, and Lucy assured her friends 557 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:13,960 Speaker 2: that she was not afraid of dying, and that even 558 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 2: in the next world, she would know when women got 559 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,960 Speaker 2: the right to vote. When one of her doctors told 560 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 2: her with certainty that she was going to die soon 561 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 2: and that he hoped she would approach the end with serenity, 562 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 2: she told him there is nothing to be unserene about. 563 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 2: On October eighteenth, eighteen ninety three, Lucy Stone died. Her 564 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:37,120 Speaker 2: last words spoken to her daughter Alice, were make the 565 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:41,320 Speaker 2: world better. She was cremated and her ashes were interred 566 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,320 Speaker 2: at Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston. 567 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: Lucy I like her heaps, and I have many thoughts 568 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: to share on Friday about marriage and Lucy's life and 569 00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:03,960 Speaker 1: Lucy's husband. In the meantime, I have fun email fun 570 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,000 Speaker 1: email from our listener James, who writes Dear Holly and 571 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,719 Speaker 1: Tracy and Team. I have been a listener to your 572 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 1: podcast for the last few years and did, in fact 573 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:16,000 Speaker 1: catch the Levi Strauss episode when it originally aired, and 574 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:17,960 Speaker 1: I was very happy to have it as a classic 575 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,960 Speaker 1: episode this weekend. I live in Butenheim, the birthplace of 576 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,600 Speaker 1: Loeb Strauss. When I moved here, my American family my 577 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 1: dad was US American, had no end of fun at 578 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: the fact that I was going to be a Buttenheimer, 579 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: but they were also duly impressed by the fact that 580 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 1: Levi Strauss was born here. As you can see from 581 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 1: the pictures attached, we're celebrating the one hundred and fiftieth 582 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,200 Speaker 1: anniversary of the five oh one gene with a street 583 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 1: party in front of the Levi Strauss Museum. I have 584 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,520 Speaker 1: also attached a picture of the birthplace, which is part 585 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:50,200 Speaker 1: of said museum, complete with the statue they put up 586 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,680 Speaker 1: a few years ago. In fact, my husband and I 587 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:55,400 Speaker 1: got married in that museum. It belongs to the local 588 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: council and the rooms in the town hall are really small. 589 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 1: Almost exactly four years ago. Okay, that's like the coolest 590 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: place to get married and also happy anniversary. So if 591 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: any listeners are true fans, they should come and visit 592 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: the museum. Franconia is one of the most beautiful parts 593 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 1: of Germany and well worth a visit. Best regards and 594 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,400 Speaker 1: thanks for the podcast. I am putting that on my 595 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,200 Speaker 1: list of places that I want to go now because 596 00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:19,759 Speaker 1: it does look amazing. I want to go to the 597 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 1: Levistras Museum real bad. He would like to write to 598 00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:27,880 Speaker 1: us about this or any other podcast or cool museums 599 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:30,640 Speaker 1: or places we should visit. My list can get longer, 600 00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:33,239 Speaker 1: that's fine. You can do that at History podcast at 601 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:36,719 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com. You can also find us on the 602 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:41,040 Speaker 1: internet social media's as Missed in History pretty much everywhere, 603 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:45,360 Speaker 1: and if you haven't subscribed yet, you can subscribe anywhere 604 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite podcasts, or the iHeartRadio app. 605 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,720 Speaker 2: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 606 00:34:57,080 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 607 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,840 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.