First National Woman's Rights Convention Ends in Worcester
On this day in 1850, the first national convention for woman's rights concluded in Worcester. For two days, more than 1,000 delegates from 11 different states had filled Brinley Hall to overflowing. Speakers, most of them women, demanded the right to vote, to own property, to be admitted to higher education, medicine, the ministry, and other professions. Many newspaper reporters heaped scorn on the convention. Although derisive, the press coverage actually helped bring the convention to the attention of a broad national audience and build support for the movement. Other national conventions followed, but change was slow. It took another 70 years — long after most of the delegates to the Worcester Convention had died — before American women won the right to vote.
Related Moments
Woman's Rights Pioneer Lucy Stone Born
Woman's Rights Pioneer Lucy Stone Born
On this day in 1818, woman's rights pioneer Lucy Stone was born on a farm in West Brookfield. Her mother greeted the news that her sixth child was a girl by exclaiming, "Oh Dear! I...
Northampton Dedicates Sojourner Truth Statue
Northampton Dedicates Sojourner Truth Statue
On this day in 2002, a statue was installed in Florence, a village of Northampton, to honor Sojourner Truth, the former enslaved woman best known for the "Ain't I a Woman" speech she delivered in 1851....
Voters Deny Massachusetts Women the Vote
Voters Deny Massachusetts Women the Vote
On this day in 1915, a referendum to give Massachusetts women the vote failed at the polls. In spite of its leading role in the nineteenth-century woman's rights movement, Massachusetts was the first state to...
