Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

by Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were two heroic women who vastly bettered the lives of a majority of American citizens. For more than fifty years they led the public battle to secure for women the most basic civil rights and helped establish a movement that would revolutionize American society. Yet despite the importance of their work and they impact they made on our history, a century and a half later, they have been almost forgotten.

Stanton and Anthony were close friends, partners, and allies, but judging from their backgrounds they would seem an unlikely pair. Stanton was born into the prominent Livingston clan in New York, grew up wealthy, educated, and sociable, married and had a large family of her own. Anthony, raised in a devout Quaker environment, worked to support herself her whole life, elected to remain single, and devoted herself to progressive causes, initially Temperance, then Abolition. They were nearly total opposites in their personalities and attributes, yet complemented each other's strengths perfectly. Stanton was a gifted writer and radical thinker, full of fervor and radical ideas but pinned down by her reponsibilities as wife and mother, while Anthony, a tireless and single-minded tactician, was eager for action, undaunted by the terrible difficulties she faced. As Stanton put it, "I forged the thunderbolts, she fired them."

The relationship between these two extraordinary women and its effect on the development of the suffrage movement are richly depicted by Ward and Burns, and in the accompanying essays by Ellen Carol Dubois, Ann D. Gordon, and Martha Saxton. We also see Stanton and Anthony's interactions with major figures of the time, from Frederick Douglass and John Brown to Lucretia Mott and Victoria Woodhull. Enhanced by a wonderful array of black-and-white and color illustrations, Not For Ourselves Alone is a vivid and inspiring portrait of two of the most fascinating, and important, characters in American history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Feminism, Womens, Historical, Politics

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Geoffrey Champion Ward is an author and screenwriter of various documentary presentations of American history. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1962.

He was an editor of American Heritage magazine early in his career. He wrote the television mini-series The Civil War with its director Ken Burns and has collaborated with Burns on every documentary he has made since, including Jazz and Baseball. This work won him five Emmy Awards. The most recent Burns/Ward collaboration, The War, premiered on PBS in September 2007. In addition he co-wrote The West, of which Ken Burns was an executive producer, with fellow historian Dayton Duncan.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

2004: I was surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. I had no idea that abolition, prohibition, and suffrage were so closely linked. I'll read this again someday.

2017: This was as engaging on the second read as it was on the first -- there's so much info that I could probably read it again next month and still learn a lot. I need to find a bio of Stanton. Very little is said about her private life, but she wrote about 'free love' and the confines of marriage, so I'm wondering about her own marriage. She had seven children yet managed to stay active with the Woman's Movement.

Stanton wrote The Woman's Bible that drew criticism and enraged the other women in the group to such an extent that they dropped her from the very organization she had co-founded. Here's a passage from the book:

p 200: In Judges, Samson's mother is identified only as the wife of a man named Manoah:
"I suppose that it is from these Biblical examples that the wives of this Republic are known as Mrs. John Doe or Mrs. Richard Roe, to whatever Roe or Doe she may belong. If she chances to marry two or three times, the woman's identity is wholly lost."

[Rosanne Cedroni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and easy to read (plus there's a lot of great pictures!) This is the selection for my history book club and I'm enjoying it greatly.

It's rather heart breaking that neither of these brave women lived to see the 19th amendment. Regardless of that, they made great strides in promoting equal rights for women. It's a fascinating story particularly since they made mistakes and some bad choices. (How they ever tolerated that nut case George Train is beyond me!) But in the end they were triumphant and an inspiration to women throughout the ages!

[Bev Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy reading any biography, but here was reminded that we should not take the rights we have today for granted. If it had not been for women like Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and their life long efforts, we may not have the rights we have today.

[Cheryl A · Rating 4 out of 5]

While familiar in theory with the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan Anthony, this wonderful book brought a whole new dimension to the struggle for women's rights in 19th century America. Foregoing a historian review of the lives and works of this dynamic duo, the authors presented a recap of the struggles, both public and private, through primary sources. The inconsistencies of human nature, bad choices, tantums, petty quarrels and power struggles are all laid out for us to see. The inclusion of key speeches interrupted the progressive flow of the book, but were vital to understanding the life- long focus these two women had on changing the fate of women.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought a copy of this book (hardbound edition) after seeing the PBS special of the same name. More than anything I was fascinated by the passion and dedication of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in such a meaningful cause - winning to vote and many other rights for women. It was especially neat to read of Elizabeth's lesser-known involvement in the cause. What an amazing model for change.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read about the women behind the suffrage movement. They helped get slavery abolished, with the possibility/promise that women's suffrage would be next. Instead, it was forever on the "back burner", with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton travelling around the country to gather support and spread the word. The amendment was introduced into Congress every year for 46 years before it finally passed!

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ken Burns wrote this book in conjunction with his documentary on the lives and work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. I loved the documentary and also this book. It is filled with photos and a very readable account of how Stanton and Anthony spent more than 50 years working together to gain women the right to vote. Neither lived to see it accomplished. It's an incredible story.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating education on the history of the women's suffrage movement. Should be required reading in all American history classes.

[Jackie Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be a must read for every household.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

[image error]
[image error]
The three stars might be justification to label myself an insubordinate prig, but being in the prime of my youth or not, this book was just too boring in its context as a whole. Reading my Cliffs was more engaging on some points (and that is a revolting thing to say of someone's hard work). So I am not P.C., what news! Granted life could be a lot easier if I didn't pull myself up by my combat boots and go stomp up and down some books (or any period). In 'layman's terms', that is just becoming a "fun-sucker." Or morally incorrect.

Asking questions about my gender, I was once told, was okay. But go any further and question the feminist movement itself is completely out of order. We worked hard to get where we are! We are no longer beleaguered by the dull and deary tasks of the housewife. We have been accepted into a man's dominion, an "abomination" made into an intellectual pursuit for both genders. For once and for all. And though this leaves my neck on the chopping block, I have to disagree. This book, plus many others, spurred my search for articles, and research surveys of the past ten years. The results were shocking. Numbers of men and women supporting both the positions of the 'career chasing' and the 'brood minder' have plummeted. The happiness levels? Well, I wish to avoid arrows, but they are low. Of course, this is completely ammatur research, the equivalent of a sixth graders if you will, but that does not make the percentages look any cheerier.

I felt as if I had been taking a five-year long nap from my culture. So engrossed had I been in the past, I had forgotten about my present and my future. This book didn't earn many points mainly because of how the author dragged me through punctuation and dreary prose, but it certainly prodded at me with a hot poker that things are changing. And perhaps, not for the better?

[Karen Pastore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Read most of the book & saw the series based on the book on PBS: both stressed that while many people fought for an end to racism & used the Bible to help end black slavery, the same Bible was used to oppress females although the passages that are for female submission also defend slavery. A point raised was that while a black woman might be defended on the bases that she was black & that being cruel to a non white person is wrong/ that racism is wrong it was white women that had less rights than all slaves & far from being expensive were of less value as a product than a man's furniture. Under laws the series & book point out in detail white men made sure that their women , as they put it, were at the very bottom of the list of those who might get rights some day: they were willing to put black men & even black women first but they stressed their women should be dead last on a long list where they had less rights than 'looneys' in snake pits that were allowed to be killed for entertainment: and even 'insane' ax murders that the state was putting to death: then all criminals and even less rights than condemned murders: This is a bold entrance into real history: white females were brought to the states as bond brides because they 'stole' palm bread in Europe instead of 'allowing' men to sex slave them for bread the size of their palms & plus brothel slavery built towns into boom towns/ booms towns into big cities built on human trafficking of females: little girls were used in death trap factories & sex abused there to build the industrial revolution: etc All through history women of all 'colors' have been slaved as 'less-than-saves' by men of all colors as the norm: in fact white females were sold in colossal numbers to African tribes that later would slave & sell other Africans to horrid white male slave ships: The more misogynistic tribes did this to the tribes that were more equal, although there were many more tribes that were good to women than not, the hyper-masculine ones traded in slaves as the norm. While this brutality is so much a part of History that female scientists used women to prove humans are all related, since in women they found proof of how women were slaved more than anyone else in history & for thousands of years. THIS ACCOUNT OF TRUE HERSTORY by these 2 gentlemen proved that all Stanton ment when addressing the horrid action by Douglas concerning all women was that she believed African men in Africa were better than white men by and large in their treatment of women & that Douglas was belittling black men to reveal his hatred of females as human beings, and to out that hatred in action: that this was conditioning by white slavers not the teachings of most African tribes, but instead, the teaching of white male slavers who more than anything owned women: Ms. Truth agreed : and the book & series proved that all Anthony ment was that if the women's right's movement puts aside their rights for black men to gain rights it would be belittling to our cause, since no movement against blood and guts hellish human rights violations has ever been asked to do that for another: but all those fighting to end racism were outraged at these women, that they could consider spending one minute on the marginal, almost silly issue of women's human rights when the much more serious, real, hellish issue of racism needed ALL the attention. as though the women's struggle concerns a frivolous, trivial issue and not serious violations of all basic human rights on a massive scale: she warned this would feed the trivialization of women's human rights and she was proven right in the most bone chilling way. she warned that once again women being less than slaves in rights & the most hellishly abused/ sold, bought & sub-humanized, would be seen as a lesser issue than all other serious issues (were the group being oppressed contained males as members of the group) but Stanton talked her into it believing that since women's human rights were laughed at Douglas had promised to give women his support & vote for women's rights, making it a popular cause, to be taken with as much seriousness as racism: after race-based slavery was ended (that was the catch) & he could vote on things: Stanton saw no other path to go since continuing even a little work for women's rights, when blacks were still slaves & unable to vote, was so violently frowned upon that their lives were in greater danger than ever as they spoke out...which never could stop them , but it did prove that women's rights was more unpopular than ever: the black man Stanton saved in the underground railroad seemed the only hope: Douglas...and he promised. so, at Stanton's urging, Anthony put aside the women's fight for basic human rights and joined all the other women, who all did likewise: all had been helping the anti-racist cause all along like Anthony & doing most of the work on the white side of the struggle, although white men were getting nearly all the credit...she put aside the fight to help black men get the vote: when they did, Douglas stabbed women in the back, by stating ridiculously & shamefully that until women are victims of hellish abuse by men they can whine about getting some rights!! And he dumped the women's cause in a misogynistic hypocritical rage that shocked Sojouner Truth: What this book and series did was to ever so slightly but powerfully open our eyes to the following: Then as now the greatest violence on human beings as property was inflicted on females including the most horrid whippings, beatings, sex assaults and of course murder: white females were deemed to be a dime a dozen: not expensive slaves & since nearly all white men got dowries when they married women & child brides, killing one wife ment getting more wealth or land and thus more power as a man: these male gold digging 'whores' (another thing censored-out of history) would beat their females so mercilessly , so unspeakable it was common for females to be deformed by it & so murderous was the constant abuse on females that all you heard was girls screaming when in a town apartment building: so many women & girls were being mutilated & were being murdered as a right of a man that at the turn of the 20th century the rule of thumb was passed: you could not beat your wife with any metal rod thicker than your thumb, believing that might curb some mutilations & some killings...how sweet: women looked like they had been attacked by a pack of lions: and you could tie your wife up & whip her to a pulp outside in your yard, on the streets: you bet women fled from their serial killer style raging husband-owners down the street but others did not bother since no one thought it was wrong of the man and no one would get in the way of his 'rights' as the owner: and you bet many a female was hung in our streets for many a misogynistic reason including as 'thieves': as famous men of God only stood there praying that they be forgiven by God for the unforgivable sin of fleeing men wanting to buy them as sex slaves,to brutalized females as sub-human 'scum', in exchange for bread the size of the woman/girl's palm: women were supposed to be treated this way if they wanted the right to breathe men's air or actually have a teeny bit of food to eat after their owner-husbands died or if they fled incesting father-owners :today 3 in 4 females are killed in domestic abuse each day in the US alone in the worst overkill & that is only 30% of all misogynistic murders on females each yr in just the USA: To this very day THIS IS STILL CENSORED-OUT in cold, brutal denial as the legacy of denial lives on, Since even great men who fought aganst race slavery so bravely violently embraced this denial, born of the most accepted hate: misogyny. so it is no wonder the violence and abuse on females is as bad as it is to this very day: when alive all these females were blasted by society and judges for claiming the man was going to kill them one day and they were scoffed at over claims of abuse, even when most of these men already tortured and killed her pet: yet if they had killed the men they would all be alive today...all these females would be alive today...but imagine 3 to 4 men killed a day by these women claiming abuse and danger from the men..they would be ridiculed to death in a frenzy of public out cry: but the females die instead each day to the sound of content silence from the same public, the same media that panders to them, the same justice system, the same people of conscience, now imagine if females were killing other men also each yr in the USA at a rate 70% higher than that !! of course even the piled up dead butchered bodies of females are ignored each day (just as Douglas so willingly & with extreme hate,ignored them) as though this is not happening as though even the dead bodies of females are lying about the abuse, about the seriousness of misogyny and about the extent of the danger they are in The book & series reading from the book, shed light on all this, bridging the gap of yesterday's denial to that of today, from yesterday's abuse to that of the present by way of a misogynistic legacy: all this brutality & sub-humanization does not count rape, prostitution-human trafficking & beatings: even epithets on females are the number 1 promoted sell words by the same shows that would be off the air, and rightly so, in a second if they used racial or homophobic epithets on groups that contain males as members of the group who can be thus harmed by such cheered and accepted bullying, blood-soaked words of hate. Unlike the N word we claim epithets on females are harmless: yet each day the world's greatest of all violence and murder is committed by men who scream those epithets...and treat females as sub-humans, as the epithets themselves...and they are the last words females hear ringing in their ears before they are murdered each day proceeded by the cold command to die!! Not harmful?? the last words all these murdered females hear, as they die in unspeakable numbers and unspeakable overkill: If anything this book & series gave a glimpse into the acceptance of misogyny , which is why we fail to see how bad it was & is: indeed Ms. Truth stood up to support Anthony & Stanton when they said Douglas himself hated women so much inside (dispite all he promised about helping us get our rights if we gave ours up for his) that he'd rather be a man under any circumstance than be proud to be in the hated body of a woman, which he saw as far, far less than a man, as indeed a shameful disgrace...he did not argue the fact. But he seemed believed black women would still get rights based on the popularity of people of conscience fighting against racism. So at least on the issue of race he felt black women might get support if mistreated since fighting racism was such a popular cause next to fighting misogyny :the Truth is women of all colors are sisters in this together as Billy Holiday once taught Lena Horne: since black females might suffer more because they are also black but likewise, white females might suffer more because fighting to end misogyny is the UNPOPULAR TRUTH as Anthony put it, but many who support misogyny are often dead set against racism since fighting racism is a very popular truth: so the attitude of many liberals is to treat black women as humans if sub-humanized because they are black after all, and treating no=white people bad is frowned on by people of conscience: while fighting misogyny is laughed at largely even by progressives: the attitude as before in Anthony's time,is to treat 'only' the women's rights issue as stupid, or against God, or feminazi stuff or 'whore' of Babylon stuff or 'slut' stuff or 'bitch' stuff or simply the ;women doing the work of the devil' and worst of all 'man hating' stuff etc After all white women are often attacked by all sides when they raise the misogyny issue since all sides scoff that 'the only' problem white women have is 'mere misogyny'...mere misogyny: no wonder black women are in the constitution as blacks at least. yet without women included by gender...white women are the only ones left out. This is how even many progressives can mock women's rights & call feminist social justice 'nazi' crap but be devoted to anti-racism, and at least give black women some respect while they scoff at white 'feminazis' as with inclusion in the constitution, under this way of embracing only the popular truth again, a black female abused might get more support because many people fight for better treatment of non-whites....so yes, black females might also suffer twice BECAUSE of racism but because of the comparative popularity of anti-racism they get included in the constitution, but for generations upon generations, and I suppose still yet, white women are the only Americans not included in the very constitution, so it evens out: & of course women's slavery is censored-out of all history unless the girls are portrayed pornographically as loving it: this book and it's main thrust as depicted brilliantly in the series on PBS encourages a new look at herstory through the examination of gender-based sub-humanization and slavery: once these 2 men were in tears over how overlooked and censored this reality of human history has become while people of conscience only seem concerned for groups that contain males as members of the group and ignore the extent of the hell that is misogyny :female herstory is loaded with one thing above all: we were slaved: based on GENDER: in fact historically the trade in white females to Africa was the largest slave trade known to human kind according to the most revered sources. (as of the 1970s) But remember sex trafficking on females of all colors by males of all colors was not included as serious horrible slavery & isn't to this day, although that is perhaps somewhat changing. The series was based on this book word for word and I recommend both together: it covered that females did not even have custody of themselves until 1920 & much less of their kids: & when Stanton asked that mothers be allowed to be able to have chance to get custody of their kids the whole church community attacked her stressing that fathers have a right to have 'some !! rights to their children as the dads' when the fathers had ALL rights over the children that they owned, indeed the wife did not even have custody over herself: Stanton was stigmatized as a devil, hating the sacred cow: fathers in the family, men. the heads of the home...preachers against racism, their so called feministic wives...all attacked her in a rabid frenzy of hypocritical, nonsensical reasoning that exposed just how truly & hysterically bonded they all were to male power over females. and Contrary to the fairy tale of romance stories females who came from Europe had no rights & were sold off in marriage: often as child brides. There were not many beautiful romances: most of these women were terrified in life to ever say a word in contrast to their husbands 'authority'. Even in France were blacks had rights females had none until after WW11!! We are fed the opposite of all these facts...I believe the reason this is the only unpopular series of Burns is because he exposed much of this & so what he did was 'dangerous' becase it could lead some to an exploration of just how misogynistic we are in the world. We even put little preteens on chain-gangs for the 'sex crime' of adult men buying them in human trafficking: and in America we sex slave and buy these little girl children the most not the least & travel the world the most doing this to the girl children of other nations. we are in denial...everyone acts like we have to be addressing the horrors of racism or homophobia to have a truly serious issue of human rights violations....so if a female, completey dedicated to ending racism as an abominations to human rights, happens to be white and claims misogyny is as bad & even worse she is censored-out of history by conservatives & liberals alike. Sadly white men get most of the credit for fighting racism when whites fought it, yet women like Stanton & Anthony did the bulk of their work for them yet they get stigmatized as one issue activists & racists when they only tried to avoid what Douglas in fact did: yet he is praised as pro-women's rights and Anthony as a racist & Stanton as someone who called him a 'Sambo' when it was he who stabbed all women in the back denying us the right to be considered human beings and not property, spitting on our very humanity and he did this to the crushed face of the very woman who saved his life first then his right to vote & be valued as a human being citizen & not property, & he did it in hopes of keeping any rights from all women but most of all he stressed white women, since he knew black women would at least benefit some from anti-racist laws in the constitution...they were in there based on race...yet first white men , then black men, made sure white women were not because they all belittle feminist- social, human ,& civil rights justice: Douglas most of all lead the charge ( He scoffed at the notion of being in the body of a womanonly on this issue was he more than willing to be a led Stepford wife of misogynistic white men who had hoped they had conditioned him well in this injustice, in this form of hate) deep inside hated women so badly to his own silent agreement when Anthony & Truth put his conscience to the question point blank: yet it is these women, who gave up all their rights for black men to get theirs who are called mere one issue blind women who are racist & are snuffed out of history while Douglas is a god of both civil AND!! women's human rights every time his name comes up ...and it comes up often. Another thing that bothered my fellow liberals was that Stanton equated the less than slave status of wives to prostitution explaining that both were the abuse of females treated as the mere property, product of men & their power structure & although a lover of God, she took on the Bible as the greatest book, as she deemed it, of misogyny that supports the slave status & abuse of females: everyone attacked her for that courage. We need to read this book & watch the series it is based on & then so much more, like Andrea Dworkin's work & the recent work of Gloria Steinem on sex trafficking etc because even these women, students of Stanton & Anthony, are being forgotten & belittled & censored-out: just like Stanton & Anthony before them: and just as Dworkin warned. It's time for women of all backgrounds & 'colors' & ethnicity to rise up as sisters and highlight as well the brave men who have/had our backs often like Ted Bunch/ Kevin Powell, Tom Laughlin, Nicholas Kristof, John Lennon, etc That even Douglas could not see & was in deliberate denial of the unsurpassed abuse of the most hideous kind on females in society is bone chilling: ab=nd the incestual fahters who owned their daughters if they did not sell them with dowries to husband-owners like Mr. Frick in Pittsburgh & Lizzie Borden's father, which was a chilling norm in wealthy circles, accepted by them (infact if anyone made a fuss over it, the GIRL was shunned by high society as being apart of 'scandal' which ment someone was , unlike them, upset over the incest-based on gender power: and the fact that most women of all colors were dirt poor & often beaten, all were owned etc & few wore dresses like Scarlett O'Hara...we need to face the realities of HERSTORY as sisters and as brave, courageous males. This book kicked things off but is largely ignored as is the series based on the book, that told the book's story, directly from the book's words. We need to fight to end ALL the inhumanity not just the popular truths ...but misogyny too, and need to stop denying the hell on earth around us then using the state od denial as 'proof' that misogyny is not quite so bad as the popular truths.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Entirely One Are We
“Parties of women... without escorts, women unaccustomed to being out that way,” per a reporter for the New York Times, Nov 12, 1895.

Susan B Anthony Not Dead - A False Report of Her Sudden Demise Circulated
Fort Wayne, Ind., July 26

Stanton in 1895: “I have been affected to tears more than once during these days of triumph,” she wrote in her diary the day after her 80th birthday.

Mrs. Dickinson introduced Stanton as “the Mother of the heart-life stirring in us all.”

“I thank you all very much for the tributes of love, respect, and gratitude. I am well aware that these demonstrations are no so much tributes to me as an individual as to the great idea that I represent -- the enfranchisement of women.”

“Before I sit down I want to say one word to the men who are present,” a smile playing across her lips. “I fear you think the ‘new woman’ is going to wipe you off the planet, but be not afraid. All who have mothers, sisters, wives or sweethearts will be very well looked after.”

Nothing that has ever emanated from the brain of man is too sacred to be revised and corrected. Our National Constitution has been amended 15 times, our English system of jurisprudence has been essentially modified in the interest of women to keep pace with advancing civilization. And now the time has come to amend and modify the canon laws, prayer-books, liturgies and Bibles... Woman’s imperative duty at this hour is to demand a thorough revision of creeds and codes, Scriptures and constitutions. - Stanton

The old idea that man was made for himself, and woman for him, that he is the oak, she the vine, he the head, she the heart, he the great conservator of wisdom... she of love, -- will be reverently laid aside with other long since exploded philosophies of the ignorant past. - Susan B Anthony

No country ever has had or ever will have peace until every citizen has a voice in the government. Now let us try universal suffrage. We cannot tell its dangers or delights until we make the experiment. - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

The Spirit of the Age
One month after the American Equal Rights Association was founded, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment [on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments] without change and sent it on to the states to be ratified. That summer white mobs attacked freedmen so viciously in so many places in the South that the Radical Republicans began to argue that if black suffrage were to become a reality, a fifteenth amendment would eventually be necessary, explicitly barring the states from discriminating against freedmen at the polls.

Some 150 women had attempted to vote in 1872. Anthony’s case was the most celebrated, but it had no legal impact.

1876 Taxation without representation is tyranny.

Looking over these 28 years [since the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments] I feel that what we have achieved, as yet, bears no proportion to what we have suffered in the daily humiliation of spirit from the cruel distinctions based on sex... The undercurrent of popular thought, as seen in our social habits, theological dogmas, and political theories still reflects the same customs, creeds and codes that degrade women in the effete civilizations of the old world. - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

effete:
Affected, overrefined, and ineffectual: "effete trendies from art college".
No longer capable of effective action

The Declaration of Sentiments that Stanton had written almost 30 years earlier called for equal education, for the rights to write and speak in publi and earn a living -- real progress had been made on those fronts since 1848.

Now: “We protest against this government of the United States as an oligarchy of sex, and not a true republic; and we protest against calling this a centennial celebration of the independence of the United States.”

A male heckler piped up: My wife has presented me with 8 beautiful children; is not this better lifework than that of exercising the right of suffrage? Stanton slowly looked him up and down. Frankly sir, I know of few men worth repeating eight times.

At age 66, Stanton gave up lecturing and returned to Tenafly.

Anthony invited Stanton to live with her but Stanton wouldn’t hear of it. Anthony could not hide her disappoint:

Well, I hope you will do and be as seemeth best unto yourself... Still, I cannot help sending you this inner groan of my soul.

Stanton:
The chief reason for opening to every soul the doors to the whole round of human duties and pleasures is the individual development thus attained, the resources thus provided under all circumstances to mitigate the solitude that at times must come to everyone...

Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens the conscience like individual responsibility. Nothing adds such dignity to character as the recognition of one’s self-sovereignty; the right to an equal place, everywhere conceded -- a place earned by personal merit, not an artificial attainment by inheritance, wealth, family, and position. Conceding then that the responsibilities of life rest equally on man and woman, that their destiny is the same, they need the same preparation for time and eternity. Rich and poor, intelligent and ignorant, wise and foolish, virtuous and vicious, man and woman; it is ever the same, each soul must depend wholly on itself.

From the mountain-tops of Judea long ago, a heavenly voice bade his disciples, “Bear ye one another’s burdens” but humanity has not yet risen to that point of self-sacrifice; and if ever so willing, how few of the burdens are that one soul can bear for another!

So it ever must be in the conflicting scenes of life, in the long, weary march, each one walks alone. We may have many friends, love, kindness, sympathy and charity, to smooth or pathway in everyday life, but in the tragedies and triumphs of human experience, each mortal stands alone.

… plead at the bar of justice...

And yet, there is a solitude which each and every one of us has always carried with him, more inaccessible than the ice-cold mountains, more profound than the midnight sea; the solitude of self. Our inner being which we call ourself, no eye nor touch of man or angel has ever pierced, it is more hidden than the cave of the gnome; the sacred adytum of the oracle; the hidden chamber of Eleusinian mystery, for to it only omniscience is permitted to enter.

Such is individual life. Who, I ask you, can take, dare take on himself the rights, the duties, the responsibilities of another human soul?

Stanton said to her son, Robert, who played piano and sang the ‘old, old songs of her youth,’
Bob, life is a great mystery.

At age 80, Stanton published a new book: The Women’s Bible
as a direct challenge to the religious doctrine that woman was “an inferior being, subject to man.”

In the Spring of 1919, the House and Senate passed the 19th Amendment. Suffragists still had to persuade 36 states to ratify.

Midsummer 1920, everything came down to Tennessee.

On August 18, yellow roses filled the chamber for suffrage; red for those who opposed it. Harry Burn from McKinn County, at 24, was the youngest man in the legislature. He entered the chamber with a red rose in his buttonhole, a signal of a vote for the ANtis. But he also carried folded in his pocket a letter from his mother:

Dear son...
Vote for suffrage and don’t keep them in doubt. I notice some of the speeches against. They were very bitter. I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not seen anything yet. Don’t forget to be a good boy...
With lots of love,
Mama

Asked to explain himself later he simply said: I know that a mother’s advice is always safest for a boy to follow.

That fall in 1920, for the first time in history, American women would go to the polls in every precinct in America.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book filled with photographs of ordinary women as well as movers and shakers of the Suffrage movement in the United States. The narrative is rich in quotes from the personal and public writings of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. It is based on the series by Ken Burns for PBS, but it certainly stands alone whether you have viewed the series or not. Many details revealed here have been forgotten or never revealed before. It is a intriguing portrait of an unlikely but long lasting friendship between these two important American women.

[John Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a well-written, well-researched chronicle of two of the leading advocates for women's suffrage. It goes along with a Ken Burn's documentary and includes plenty of photographs. It is very enlightening in explaining the conditions and treatment of women in that era. Amazingly, two women who were so vastly different in so many ways became so close in their quest for suffrage. It is a shame that they didn't live to see the day that women finally gained suffrage all over the United States.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent history of two remarkable women. I loved all of the quotes, photographs, and stories that helped me to have a better understanding of who they were and the work that they dedicated themselves to. The authors didn't shy away from the more controversial decisions of Stanton and Anthony, and provided context that was really appreciated. This history is so important and this is a book I will probably add to my personal library.

[Bill Sleeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written, well researched overview of the movement and of the individuals. While I knew some of this history, a great deal of it was new to me. What I particularly appreciated was how the author highlighted their friendship. A friendship that appears to have been deep and fulfilling to both women. Stanton's comment while on her deathbed about seeing Anthony again in the hereafter was amusing and spoke volumes about Stanton's grace and good sense. Read the book yourself to find out why...

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. I really enjoyed learning about Stanton & Anthony's friendship. I feel like this should be required reading for all American women to remember exactly what kind of hell past generations lived through to get us where we are today.

[Marta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book shed an unbiased light on the lesser known partnership Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony held in the early leadership of the suffrage movement. The movement and the friendship is one to behold. A worthy read for all you history buffs!

[Patricia Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book but no citations. But not really a problem because almost all the quotes the author used can be searched on line and found in google books.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introduction by Paul Barns.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I did not find much new in this account of these pioneering women and their fight for women to get the vote, I did enjoy the way it was presented here.

[Kelly Bowles]

Ward, G.C. & Burns, K. (1999). Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group.

Citation by: Kelly Bowles

Type of Reference: Biographical Reference

Call Number: B Sta

Content/Scope: This fascinating dual biography tells the story of two heroic women who publicly fought for women’s right to vote, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Despite the importance of their impact on American history, they have been left out of many history books studied by students in the U.S. This riveting and inspiring portrait of these women leaders will bring them back to life for young readers.

Accuracy/Authority/Bias: Published by Knopf Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, a publishing company long known for its distinguished hardcover fiction and nonfiction. This title received the Booklist Editor’s Choice: Books for Youth in 1999.

Arrangement/Presentation: Pictorial history text that is a companion to a PBS series. Text is inviting and equally balanced with the exciting illustrations. As Stanton and Anthony were vastly different people and disagreed on many things, aside from suffrage, political debates are made tangible. The text blends both personal detail and political theory. Text is accompanied by 150 illustrations and excerpts from speeches delivered by both women.

Relation to other works: As leaders of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, Stanton and Anthony are often discussed, however mostly separately. This work enables the reader to see them side by side, as leaders, instigators, colleagues, and at the same time completely different. A welcome addition to any academic or public library.

Accessibility/Diversity: The topic, text, and illustrations portray a underrepresented population within the biographies of the historically infamous. The language is not sexist, and the illustrations represent a vastly diverse group of individuals.

Cost: $35.00

Professional Review: Hooper, B. (1998). Not for Ourselves Alone. Booklist. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com.libsrv....

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the suffrage movement. The determination and strength of these women is inspiring. I think I never knew how bad things were, and it makes me appreciate what we have and the effort and sacrifice it took to get us here. I thought it would be a bit glossed over as it wasn't that long of a book, but I think they got the right balance of facts, and the human side of the story.

Once again though I think it points out the forgotten foibles of our heroes and heroines. In this instance when it came time for black men to get the right to vote Susan would not support the call for the right of black men to vote. She in fact argued against black men voting because why should they get to vote when educated (and in her mind superior) women are denied that right. It seems rather petty of her to try to hold back another group if she can't get what she wants. I guess she could make the argument that everyone gets the right to vote or no one does, but that seems illogical. The votes of black men should have been seen as more potential people able to vote to support her cause (hopefully they would be willing to help out the oppressed women since they would have an intimate understanding of oppression). Also her looking down on black men with no education shows a lack of enlightenment. I guess sometimes that only comes when you can look back on things and have a wider perspective. Finally I think Fredrick Douglass's statement on why she should have supported it was very compelling (nobody was lynching white women at the time). I guess this just proves once again that nobody is perfect.

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this on the anniversary of Susan B. Anthony's birth in 1820. I had heard of her and Elizabeth Cady Stanton prior to seeing Ken Burn's excellent documentary of this same name, but I didn't know much about either of them as individuals or about their working partnership. Of course they did much to advance the cause of Women's Suffrage and never got to cast a legal vote in an election, but they voted anyway, though their votes were discounted. But like so many I thought Anthony came to the movement first, but no, it was Stanton. Like the documentary this book hits all the important points but includes enough detail to add interest to them and make them more compelling. Being a woman of my generation hasn't always been comfortable or easy, but had I lived a century before in their time I don't think I would have survived what Anthony and Stanton endured, particularly Anthony who traveled the country almost continuously through her life lecturing and organizing. And similarly to both of them I believe in racial equality and yet I can understand their frustration at women being excluded from the amendment that gave black men the vote, particularly as they worked to tirelessly as abolitionists.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book after watching the fascinating miniseries on TV by Ken Burns..This is a wonderful companion book to the series, with very rare daguerreotypes of the time and place as well as from both women..Excepts from their diaries bring the reader to the forefront of their lives and the conflict and heartaches they experienced..Every student studying womens' issues should read this and the book should be required reading for high school students studying history..

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read. I knew so little about the suffrage movement - to think they worked tirelessly for more than 50 years - and neither Stanton or Anthony lived to see women get the vote! Good reminder of how bad things were for women, and how long social change takes. Enjoyed the old photographs in the book too.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only skimmed the book but I watched the video cd numerous times. I also watched the video tape and I have seen an audio cd of the same name. The book seems to be pretty much the same material. A Ken Burns videotape.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was written as a companion book for a documentary- So the distracting layout is going to be forgiven. Not the best-written biography, but it wasn't meant to be. Instead it is a pretty fair rendering of the significant work of these two women.

[Paul Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book to read before this presidential election. Even though I read a lot of American history, this book gave me an appreciation for the 75 year effort for women to achieve the right to vote.

[Wendi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very intriguing story, but written poorly. This is the ultimate boring history book. Way too much information, with too many tangents.