Anna Howard Shaw

Anna Howard Shaw 1847-1919, American woman-suffrage leader, b. England. She emigrated (1851) to the United States in early childhood and grew up on a farm in Michigan. She received a degree in theology (1878) and one in medicine (1885) from Boston Univ. Although the Methodist Episcopal Church refused to allow her to preach, she was ordained (1880) by the Methodist Protestant denomination. She had filled several pastorates in Massachusetts when, in 1888, she met Susan B. Anthony and from then on devoted her life to working for woman suffrage. She was vice president at large (1892-1904) and president (1904-15) of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In Anthony's last years, she was her constant associate. Dr. Shaw campaigned in every state where a suffrage measure was under consideration; she was one of the most effective speakers of the movement.

Bibliography: See her autobiography, The Story of a Pioneer (1915).

National American Woman Suffrage Association (USA) Founded in 1890, this organization campaigned for women to be given the vote in all public elections at every level, though until 1916 it principally worked for women's suffrage in state and municipal elections. Its membership rose from around 17,000 in 1905 to two million in 1917. Led by Anna Howard Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt, in 1916 it began in common with similar organizations to campaign for a change to the US Constitution to ensure that women had the vote at every level. Ultimately, it was the women's crucial role in World War I, when they filled many social and economic positions hitherto occupied by men, which proved the catalyst for equal political rights. It was disbanded in triumph when political equality was achieved on the passage of the Nineteenth Constitutional Amendment in 1920.