Lot 135: Susan B. Anthony: Pioneering American social

Susan B. Anthony: Pioneering American social activist (1820-1906) who was one of the leading figures in early feminism and whose efforts on behalf of women's suffrage were instrumental in the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. ALS, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.5 x 8.5, National Woman Suffrage Association letterhead, November 22, 1886. Letter to Carrie Lamb in Wisconsin. In part: "Your note with the names & $2 is just received...We are having atrocious weather now-a-days-but pretty fair meetings. Ms. Colby gives great pleasure to the friends and connects the opponents everywhere. I do hope you ladies will persevere in keeping up the agitation." Accompanied by the original mailing envelope panel addressed in Anthony's hand. In fine condition, with light overall soiling and a small repair to splitting along one fold end.Around the time of this letter, women's interest in the voting issue was increasing-while political interest was beginning to fade. When the suffragists finally managed to get the issue on the floor of the US Senate in 1886, the amendment was delivered a decisive defeat. From then until her death, Anthony continued pleading her case. Among her allies was Clara Bewick Colby, referenced here, a so-called "radical feminist," editor, and publisher of a suffrage journal called the Woman's Tribune. Dating to a low political point in the suffragist movement, one must admire Anthony's call to keep up the fight!