Suffragist organizers held the first-ever National Women’s
Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts on October
23, 1850.

More than 1,000 delegates from 11 states arrived for the two-
day conference, which had been planned by members of the
Anti-Slavery Society.

Lucy Stone (August 13, 1818 – October 18, 1893)

Lucy Stone was one of many speakers who argued
for equal enfranchisement for women. “We want that
[women] should attain to the development of her
nature and womanhood; we want that when she dies,
it may not be written on her gravestone that she was
the [widow] of somebody,” Stone said in a speech.

Her speech and the convention’s proceedings were
recorded and sold after the event, helping the
movement gain international recognition.