When Elizabeth Cady Stanton declared she was bringing up suffrage at a women’s rights convention to be held in July of 1848, it was a bold move undoubtedly causing some of her family and friends to question her sanity. Around 300 women and men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York for the first women’s convention in the U.S. The participants ranged from 14 year-old Susan Quinn to 68 year-old George Pryor. Sixty-eight women and 32 men signed their names to the “Declaration of Sentiments,” including noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Stanton. The declaration spelled out the inequities women faced in society, law, and economics. The signers demanded changed and committed to fighting for equality. The resolutions ranged from access to professions & education, to rights as mothers and wives, to moral conscience, but the most controversial assertion was that women should vote. Here is a radio spot from Delta’s “Moments in Time” program where Dr. Amy French of the Delta History Department recounts the tale.  

For information about the Declaration of Sentiments, visit: https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/declaration-of-sentiments.htm