Letters of Lucy Stone, 1888-1891

Suffragist, abolitionist, orator, and editor, Lucy Stone (1818-1893) was born on a farm in West Brookfield, Massachusetts. She was raised in a large devout family and greatly influenced by the anti-slavery views held by her parents Francis and Hannah Matthews Stone. Although Stone wanted to pursue a formal education, she was discouraged by her parents, a decision which may have been influenced by financial circumstances or societal views. To overcome this challenge, Stone taught school for nine years in order to attend Oberlin College (1843-1847), which was founded as a co-educational college. She was the first woman in Massachusetts to earn a college degree, but encountered additional challenges in finding suitable work. Eventually she was hired by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to work for his American Anti-Slavery Society where she further developed her perspectives and strategies as an abolitionist and women's rights advocate.

The year 1869 was a pivotal point in Stone's suffragist leadership. Political differences with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and others over passage of the 15th amendment, led Stone, Julia Ward Howe and others influenced by the need for abolition to form the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1870, Stone, Henry Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe and others formed the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, which developed local leagues, lobbied legislative officials, and provided public education on the issue of woman suffrage.

Lucy Stone died in Dorchester in 1893, but her daughter, Alice Stone Blackwell, continued much of her life's work. By 1915 the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association claimed nearly 60,000 members and their campaigns for full suffrage rights were eventually realized in 1920. She also co-wrote a new constitution that enabled the Association to become formally incorporated in December of 1892. In 1920 it became the Massachusetts League of Voters.