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Lot Essay
"Disfranchisement is not only political degradation, but ever and always moral, social and industrial degradation as well."
An autograph quotation of the opening line of Anthony's "Woman Wants Bread, Not the Ballot!" speech.
This quote closely mimics the sermon which Anthony delivered to dozens of major U.S. cities between 1870 and 1880. According to Volume II of Ida Husted Harper's Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Chapter XXVII), the great orator opened her "Woman wants Bread, Not the Ballot!" speech with "my purpose tonight is to demonstrate the great historical fact that disfranchisement is not only political degradation, but also moral, social, educational and industrial degradation." Above this, however, Harper notes that this speech was "never written" and the abstract was prepared "from scattered notes and newspaper reports". RBH records just one other example of Anthony's handwritten opening to this speech being offered at auction, with that example being sold within a larger autograph album (Cowan's Auctions, 9 December 2009, lot 172).
This quote was almost certainly gathered by an attendee of one of Anthony's speeches, as despite much controversy, she performed this speech in numerous cities in Michigan in 1879. In Muskegon, MI, the 14 February issue of the Muskegon Chronicle advertised Anthony's upcoming lecture on 25 February, stating she may be called "without exaggeration the most famous woman of the century..." In Kalamazoo, MI, the 9 March 1879 issue of The Daily Gazette advertised that "Susan B. Anthony, the most famous woman of the age, will deliver her great lecture, 'Woman Wants Bread, Not the Ballot'". In Pontiac, MI, the Pontiac Weekly Bill Poster pronounced on 26 November 1879 that "Susan B. Anthony has just lectured here to a crowded house on her novel subject: 'Woman wants bread, not the ballot".
An autograph quotation of the opening line of Anthony's "Woman Wants Bread, Not the Ballot!" speech.
This quote closely mimics the sermon which Anthony delivered to dozens of major U.S. cities between 1870 and 1880. According to Volume II of Ida Husted Harper's Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Chapter XXVII), the great orator opened her "Woman wants Bread, Not the Ballot!" speech with "my purpose tonight is to demonstrate the great historical fact that disfranchisement is not only political degradation, but also moral, social, educational and industrial degradation." Above this, however, Harper notes that this speech was "never written" and the abstract was prepared "from scattered notes and newspaper reports". RBH records just one other example of Anthony's handwritten opening to this speech being offered at auction, with that example being sold within a larger autograph album (Cowan's Auctions, 9 December 2009, lot 172).
This quote was almost certainly gathered by an attendee of one of Anthony's speeches, as despite much controversy, she performed this speech in numerous cities in Michigan in 1879. In Muskegon, MI, the 14 February issue of the Muskegon Chronicle advertised Anthony's upcoming lecture on 25 February, stating she may be called "without exaggeration the most famous woman of the century..." In Kalamazoo, MI, the 9 March 1879 issue of The Daily Gazette advertised that "Susan B. Anthony, the most famous woman of the age, will deliver her great lecture, 'Woman Wants Bread, Not the Ballot'". In Pontiac, MI, the Pontiac Weekly Bill Poster pronounced on 26 November 1879 that "Susan B. Anthony has just lectured here to a crowded house on her novel subject: 'Woman wants bread, not the ballot".