Unveiling of the Susan B. Anthony Statue Thursday in Adams

The bronze statue of voting and women's rights activist and native daughter to the Town of Adams Susan B. Anthony will finally be unveiled Thursday morning at the Town Common in Adams according to The Berkshire Eagle.

The statue was originally scheduled to be unveiled last year in celebration of her 200^th birthday and recognition of the centennial of the 19^th Amendment that gave women the right to vote.  One of Anthony’s lifelong pursuits.  The pandemic put a hold on ceremony at the newly renovated park.

Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 on East Road, now home to the Susan B Anthony Birthplace Museum.  She was raised in Adams up until the age of 6 when her family moved.  According to The Berkshire Eagle she came back to Adams often during her lifetime to visit family.

Anthony was a true leader taking up causes from abolishing slavery to fighting for equal rights of woman, including the right to vote.  During her fight to end slavery she organized the Women’s Loyal National League in 1863.  It was the first national women’s political origination in the county.  The organization led the drive to end slavery collecting over 400,000 signatures that help aid in the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that ended slavery in the country.

Anthony was arrested in Rochester, New York for voting in 1872.  She was convicted and refused to pay the $100 fine.  The trial was widely publicized and put a woman’s right to vote front and center.  In 1878 Anthony and good friend and fellow women’s rights activist Elizabeth Stanton presented Congress with an amendment to allow women to vote. What is known as the Susan B Anthony Amendment was finally ratified by Congress in 1920, fifteen years after Anthony’s death.  The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution legally guaranteed American woman the right to vote.

Anthony died in Rochester, New York in 1906 at the age of 86 from heart failure and pneumonia.  Some reports have quoted Anthony as saying that she wished "to live another century and see the fruition of all the work for woman."

The ceremony to unveil this amazing woman’s statue in Town Common in Adams is this Thursday, June 24^th beginning at 9:30.

Click here if you would like more information on the Susan B Anthony Birthplace Museum.