Note: Material for this script was drawn from a number of sources including The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony by Ida Husted Harper, 1899. Direct quotes from I.D. Harper’s work are italicized.
Paula Marie:
It is my privilege to present this first interview with Miss Susan B. Anthony – a truly great leader of the 19th Century and a present-day inspiration to women throughout the world.
Miss Anthony, who was best known as a champion of women’s rights, devoted more than 50 years of her life to this cause and gave speeches throughout the United States and abroad to organize, agitate and educate about a woman’s rights--and in particular, about a woman’s right to vote. She was still delivering speeches will into her 80s. You really are an inspiration, Miss Anthony.
Susan B:
Thank you. I always tried to think my best thoughts, speak my best words, do my best works, and follow my own conscience, looking only to God for approval.
Paula Marie:
You are certainly remembered affectionately by the American people. Did you know that a Susan B. Anthony dollar was first minted in 1979 using your likeness on the coin? That must make you very proud to be remembered in that way.
Susan B:
Of course I am pleased. But many other men and women were also steadfast in their service and dedication to the cause. I just happened to be the one who was out in front so much of the time. I did not want to be the one constantly speaking to audiences all over the country, but because no one else was available, the job fell to me. During the many years that I advocated for the cause, I must have given an average of 75-100 speeches a year.
Paula Marie:
As I understand it, you were met with quite a bit of opposition during those early years as a speaker and as an advocate for women’s rights.
Susan B:
Please allow me to clarify. First and foremost, I was an advocate for human rights. I gave speeches as an abolitionist as well as a suffragist----though I did eventually devote nearly all of my energy to furthering women’s rights.
Now let me try to answer your question to the best of my recollections. In an interview I gave for a magazine article around 1900 --- I have a copy right here ---
I pointed out that no advanced step taken by women had been so bitterly contested as that of speaking in public. For nothing which they had attempted, not even to secure the suffrage, have they been so abused, condemned and antagonized. In this they were defying not only the prejudice of the ages…this was the law and the gospel enforced by man.
When I first started speaking, I was going against convention for women to speak in public. No matter how sincere or how important your message was, you risked being hissed, booed, or even mobbed.
I faced some very difficult audiences in my time and was frequently ridiculed in the press. Even many of the women for whom I advocated hurled insults at me.
At times when I met with very hostile audiences who neither accepted me as a speaker because I was a woman nor accepted my message of equality, all I could do was hold my ground, wait for people to settle down and then repeat my arguments.
If the hostile audiences were not bad enough, the conditions alone were enough to discourage many a speaker. I delivered speeches in the rain and in drafty buildings where mothers brought along their crying infants. I traveled across the country in snow, wind, and mud. And, I stayed in bed bug infested rooms as I worked my way from town to town hoping to persuade yet a few more to the cause.
Paula Marie:
Miss Anthony, it certainly would have been understandable if you had refused this courageous undertaking. How were you able to persevere under such conditions?
Susan B:
It was not the life for one who was faint of heart or who did not have a clear vision of what they wanted to accomplish.
As I was raised in the Quaker tradition, I believed and valued the rights and dignity of all people, which included the right of women to have a voice in public. I knew I had a responsibility to speak out against injustices.
My father also influenced me a great deal, instilling confidence in me as well as exposing me to some of the injustices that needed righting. For example, our home was a meeting place for those fighting against slavery. That is where I first met my friend, Fredrick Douglas.
Later, I met Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others who encouraged me to get involved in the suffragist movement. Together, as we were committed to this great cause, I came to believe that Failure was impossible!
Paula Marie:
Miss Anthony, I’ve read that you had a great deal of communication apprehension when you first started speaking. Could you talk a bit about that?
Susan B:
Let me answer that question by sharing some of my diary entries with you. On one occasion I wrote: I spoke for an hour, but my heart fails me. Can it be that my stammering tongue ever will be loosed?
After an antislavery meeting I wrote this entry:
I tried to say a few words at opening, but soon curled up like a sensitive plant. It is a terrible martyrdom for me to speak.
On Nov 16, 1871, I wrote a letter home from Portland, Oregon. Let me read a portion of that letter. The moral agony of speaking in Portland is over, but the hurt of it stings yet. I was never dragged out before an audience so utterly without word as last night –had there been any way of escape, I would have taken wings, or what I felt more like, have sunk through the floor..
I was certainly not a natural speaker. I had a lot to learn and worked very hard at it.
Paula Marie:
You must have really worked hard to develop your skills as a speaker.
Over the years, the press began to recognize you as a wonderfully persuasive speaker – someone who was direct, clear, and convincing.
For example, in 1867 the Troy Times said you made the most eloquent and sensible speeches for female suffrage to which was ever listened.
In 1881 the Boston Globe said your logic and power to touch and sway all harts was felt and reverently recognized. Each and all recognized the individual devotion, the purity and singleness of purpose that so eminently distinguished [you] Miss Anthony.
These were just a couple of examples of the recognition you received as a speaker -- I realize that you received literally thousands of positive reviews from the press and from the general public in later years. You did become a very accomplished and a much more confident speaker over the years. I was wondering if you could share some advice with others who want to develop as a speaker but who also have anxiety about speaking in public?
Susan B:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton advised that I practice, dress loosely, exercise, and get enough sleep. That was good advice.
I also believe that if you want to have confidence as a speaker, you must think of the importance of your message and do your best to develop that message. I was passionate about what I believed. I stuck to a single message – women’s rights.
I knew that I had to develop skills of an orator rather than just someone reading an essay if I was to have any power as a speaker and communicator.
Mrs. Stanton was a very fine speech writer and helped me craft my messages so that every word counted and had its own power.
I worked to find the best statistics and illustrations to fit my messages – ones that would be relevant and would help the audience understand the need for the changes we were advocating. I used both logic and emotional appeal. Finally, I’ll share some advice I gave other women in an 1892 letter I wrote:
Don’t stop to think you can’t nor that your knees will shake. Just think what the people must know – tell the story. That is all I have ever done – just stand up and repeat the experiences and facts of things done and to be done.
Paula Marie:
Miss Anthony, thank you so much for the insights you have shared today. I am looking forward to the future interviews we have scheduled on topics such as women and leadership, oppression and minority groups, aging and engagement, communication power, and other topics that Facebook friends and others have suggested.
Thank you again for granting me this interview . And above all, thank you for the important work to which you committed your life. Our lives are the better because of it.
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