Behind every stride towards Civil Rights were individuals who swayed opinions, demanded equality, and inspired. Most often, they did this through a series of speeches. The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House collected  historical speeches from suffragists and abolitionists for performance at VoteTilla in 2017, which can be read in full.

Susan B. Anthony’s Return to the “Old Union” speech; 1863

Susan B. Anthony’s “Is it a Crime to Vote?”; 1872-1873

Susan B. Anthony’s “Woman Wants Bread, Not the Ballot”; 1880-1890

Susan B. Anthony’s “Social Purity”; 1875

Clara Barton from The Life of Clara Barton, by Percy Harold; 1898

Antoinette Brown Blackwell’s speech at the Tenth National Women’s Rights Convention at Cooper Institute; 1860

Excerpts from Amelia Bloomer’s “Most Terribly Bereft”; 1855 (given in Council Bluffs, Iowa)

Amelia Bloomer’s “Woman’s Right to the Ballot”; 1895

Carrie Chapman Catt’s “The Crisis”; 1916 (Atlantic City, New Jersey)

Carrie Chapman Catt’s Address to the United States Congress; November, 1917 (given in Washington, D.C.)

Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”; July 5, 1852 (given in Rochester, New York)

Frederick Douglass’ “Woman Suffrage Movement,” printed in New National Era; 1870

Frederick Douglass’ Emancipation of Women speech at the 20th annual meeting of the New England Woman Suffrage Association; 1888 (given in Boston, Massachusetts)

Matilda Joslyn Gage’s “The Dangers of the Hour” at the Woman’s National Liberal Convention; February 24, 1890

Matilda Joslyn Gage’s speech at the National Women’s Rights Convention; 1852 (given in Syracuse, New York)

Jean Brooks Greenleaf’s address to the House Judiciary Committee; 1892

Sarah Grimké’s Letters to Mary Parker; 1837

Hester Jeffrey’s Eulogy of Susan B. Anthony

Rev. Jermain Wesley Loguen’s “I Won’t Obey the Fugitive Slave Law”; October 4, 1850 (given in Syracuse, New York)

Samuel May’s “The Rights and Condition of Women,”; 1846

Lucretia Mott’s “Discourse on Woman”; December 17, 1849

Anna Howard Shaw’s “The Fundamental Principle of a Republic”; June 21, 1915 (given at the City Opera House in Ogdenburg, New York)

Gerrit Smith’s speech at the Syracuse National Convention; 1852

Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Seneca Falls Keynote Address; July 19, 1848

Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s address on Woman’s Rights; September 1848

Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s speech to the Reunion of the Pioneers and Friends of Woman’s Progress; November 12,1895

Lucy Stone’s speech to the Women’s Rights Convention; 1848 (given in Seneca Falls, New York)

Mary Church Terrell’s “The Progress of Colored Women”; 1904

Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman?” at the National Women’s Rights Convention; 1851

Sojourner Truth’s “Mob Convention” speech; 1853 (given in NYC, New York)

Sojourner Truth’s speech at the American Equal Rights Association meeting; 1867

Harriet Tubman’s words, through an excerpt from Harriet, The Moses of Her People, by Sarah H. Bradford

Angelina Grimké Weld’s speech at Pennsylvania Hall; 1838

Ida B. Wells’ Class Legislation; 1893

Ida B. Wells’ “How Enfranchisement Stops Lynchings” in Original Rights Magazine; June 1910

Fannie Barrier Williams’ “The Colored Girl”; 1905