Born on February 5, 1820, in a New England farmhouse, Susan Brownell Anthony was the daughter of Lucy Read Anthony and Daniel Anthony, a cottonmill owner. Her father instilled in his children the ideas of self-reliance and self-discipline. She was raised a Quaker, a religion founded on the belief that places of organized worship are not necessary for a person to experience God. Quakers do not believe in armed conflict or slavery, and they were among the first groups to practice full equality between men and women. Other American women did not experience the freedom and respect Anthony did while growing up. She worked to change that disparity by becoming a leader in the crusade for women's rights.

After having completed her schooling at the age of seventeen, Anthony began teaching in schools in rural New York state. Teaching wages for men and women differed greatly...