a biography of the day-anna howard shaw (suffragist, physician, minister)
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Anna Howard Shaw
Born February 14, 1847
Newcastle-on-Tyne, England
Died July 2, 1919 (aged 72)
Moylan, Pennsylvania, United States
Alma mater Albion College, 1875
Boston University School of Theology, 1880
Boston University School of Medicine, 1886
Occupation Women's suffrage and temperance movement activist, minister and physician
Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919) was a leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was also a physician and the first ordained female Methodist minister in the United States.[1]
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The onset of her preaching career began when she met Reverend Marianna Thompson who was the first person who supported her pursuit of an education. Thanks to Thompson's help, Shaw entered Big Rapids High School where she began reciting poetry to audiences and taking “speaking and debating classes”.[2] At the age of twenty-three, Shaw was invited by Dr. Peck, a man looking to ordain a female Methodist, to give her first sermon. Shaw hesitated at first because her only previous experience had been “as a little girl preaching alone in the forest...to a congregation of listening trees.”[2] With encouragement from Dr. Peck, Shaw agreed and, over the course of six months, prepared her sermon to be given.
Despite the success of her first sermon, her newfound passion to preach received disapproval from her classmates, friends, and family who agreed to pay for her college education only if she abandoned preaching. Despite such continual opposition and isolation from so many, Anna chose to keep on preaching. She was “deeply moved” by Mary A. Livermore, a prominent lecturer who came to Big Rapids. Ms. Livermore gave her the following advice: “if you want to preach, go on and preach…No matter what people say, don’t let them stop you!”[2]
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In 1888, Shaw attended the first meeting of the International Council of Women as a representative of both the WCTU and AWSA.[5] At the meeting, Shaw met Susan B. Anthony whom immediately encouraged her to join the National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Having agreed, Shaw played a key role at NAWSA. In 1889, she "helped to persuade the AWSA to merge with Anthony's and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's NWSA, creating for the first time in two decades a semblance of organizational unity within the [suffrage] movement."[5] Beginning in 1904 and for the next eleven years, Shaw was the president of NAWSA. Under her leadership, NAWSA continued to "lobby for a national constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote."[5]
During the early 20th century, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, NAWSA members, began employing militant techniques (e.g. picketing the White House during World War I) to fight for women's suffrage. They, like other members, were inspired by the success of the militant suffragettes in England. As president of NAWSA, Shaw was pressured to support these tactics. Nevertheless, Shaw maintained that she was "unalterably opposed to militancy, believing that nothing of permanent value has ever been secured by it that could not have been more easily obtained by peaceful methods.”[5] She remained aligned with Anthony's philosophy that was against any militant tactics. This problem within NAWSA brewed much aggression among NAWSA members toward Shaw. Despite her oratorical prowess, Shaw "lacked the administrative, organizational, and philosophical strengths necessary for leading the NAWSA".[6] In 1915, she resigned as NAWSA president and was replaced by her ally Carrie Chapman Catt.. . . .
In 2000, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
The thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the NBC television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 71st episode of the series overall, is named "Anna Howard Shaw Day". The name is based on the main character's hatred of Valentine's Day, which prompts the substitution for the birthday of a leader in the women's suffrage movement. Anna Howard Shaw was portrayed in the 2004 TV movie "Iron Jawed Angels" by Lois Smith.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Howard_Shaw
