FEBRUARY

WNYWOMEN will be honoring women of distinction in the coming months. Women that have made enormous contributions throughout the history of our nation.  These women are a small sample of countless women who have enriched the quality of life in our world.  Their achievements should be a source of pride and inspiration to all women.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY

(1820-1906)

Susan Brownell Anthony was a zealous and tireless advocate for the rights of women and blacks.  From the age of 17, when she was a teacher in rural New York State, she lobbied for equal pay for women tearchers, for coeducation, and for college training for girls.

When Sons of Temperance refused to admit women into their movement, she organized the first women's temperance association, the Daughters of Temperance. Anthony lectured on women's rights and abolition, along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  They secured the first laws in the New York State Legislature guaranteeing women rights over their children and control of property and wages.

Early in the Civil War, Anthony worked with abolitionists and organized the Women's Loyal National League, which argued for emancipation.  After the war, she unsuccessfully challenged the 14th Amendment to allow women and "Negroes" the right to voite.

In 1869, Ms. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed one of several women's suffrage organizations.  In 1890, the groups merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association, of which Anthony was president from 1892 to 1900.  In 1872, Susan led a group of women to the polls in Rochester to test their right to the franchise under the 14th Amendment.  She was arrested and fined, but she refused to pay.

An early target of abuse and scorn, Susan B. Anthony eventually became a national heroine.  With the issue of a dollar coin in 1979, she became the first woman to be depicted on United States currency.  She spent most of her life in the Rochester area and died there in 1906.

Text sources: Merriam-Webster, Inc,? www.encyclopedia.com/articles/00574.html

Honoring Women's Contributions to New York compliment of Senator Mary Lou Rath

Labor & Business

Louise Blanchard Bethune

(1865-1913)

Louise Blanchard Bethune was the first American woman known to work as a professional architect.  She also was the first woman to be elected a member of the American Institue of Architects, and the first woman to be named a fellow of that organization.  A native of Waterloo in Seneca County, Ms. Bethune made a significant mark on the street scape of Buffalo.  In 1888 she opened a Buffalo practice with her husband Robert, and she designed many buildings, including schools, factories, hotels, housing developments, residences and a bank. Ms. Bethune designed the Hotel Lafayette in Buffalo.  A Buffalo music store she designed was one of the country's first structures with a steel frame and poured concrete slabs. 

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Text source: The Book of Women's Firsts: Breakthrough Achievements of Almost 1,000 American Women, by Phyllis Read and Bernard Witlieb