Lucy Stone - Stamp

This stamp is a .50 stamp issued on August 13, 1968. It is the first woman in the Prominent American Series. The Prominent American series recognized people who played an important role in US History.

When I first saw this stamp, I asked who is Lucy Stone? She may have been a prominent person in history, but I had never heard of her before. I love it when I find something new that I have to research. I guess I like to do research and learn about new people, things, or events.

Lucy Stone was born on August 13, 1818, in Massachusetts. She was one of 9 children to parents who were farmers. She was very frustrated when her brothers were encouraged to attend college, but women were not. She became a teacher at 16 years old and saved her money to attend college. She graduated in 1847 from Oberlin College in Ohio but she refused to write her commencement speech, which had to be read by a man.

After college, she was hired by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison for his American Anti-Slavery Society. She wrote and gave abolitionist speeches as well as those on women’s rights.

She organized the first National Women’s Rights Convention in 1850. Traveling around the United States, she attended women’s rights conventions. In 1855, she married Henry Blackwell. Their vows omitted the reference to wifely obedience, and she retained her maiden name. She gave birth to two children but only one survived.

At the end of the Civil War, Lucy Stone went to Kansas to work on the referendum for suffrage. She was president of the New Jersey Women Suffrage Association. When she moved to Boston in 1869, she helped organize the New England Suffrage Association. Meanwhile, she also served on the executive committee of the American Equal Rights Association.

In 1869, Stone was unhappy that the 15^th amendment to the Constitution gave voting rights to black men and not black women. Stone, along with Julia Ward Howe formed the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1879, Stone registered to vote but was removed because she used her maiden name.

Lucy Stone gave her last speech at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

She died on October 18, 1893, at the age of seventy-five.

Classroom Activities

1.     Pretend it is 1834. If you are a girl: Write a letter to your parents persuading them to send you to college even though you are just a girl. If you are a boy: Write a letter to your parents persuading them to send your sister to college instead of you.

2.     Research William Lloyd Garrison. Write 5 interesting facts about him.

3.     Research the American Woman Suffrage Association. Write 5 interesting facts about it.

4.     Research the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. What is it? Why did it happen? Write 5 interesting facts about it.

5.     What prominent person in history do you think should be put on a stamp? Why?