Susan B. Anthony

A Kansas Portrait

"Any man who voted against female suffrage was a blockhead," Susan B. Anthony declared in an address at Manhattan on September 7, 1867. Forty-five men, twelve women, and a few boys were present. Although several of the men disagreed with Anthony, few attempted to argue with her. Questioning her femininity, The Kansas Radical, in reporting the event, wrote that the men were unsure of what she would do if cornered. Later in her speech, she modified her blockhead remark to exclude farmers.

Anthony, a sister of Daniel R. Anthony of Leavenworth, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were national leaders of the women's suffrage movement. Whether Kansas women should have the right to vote had been debated at least as early as the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention in 1859. Women were given limited school suffrage in 1861, but a constitutional amendment for full suffrage was voted down in 1867, despite the efforts of Susan B. Anthony and many others. Kansas women acquire municipal suffrage in 1887, but another equal suffrage amendment was defeated in 1894. The latter finally was achieved in 1912, when voters passed the woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution.