Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) was a towering figure in the arena of equality and women's rights, especially in the movement to grant women the right to vote. Born in 1820, she was raised with the Quaker idea that all people are equal under God. Her parents and several siblings were active in the abolition movement, and Anthony herself became a leading speaker and activist in that cause at a young age. When the women's suffrage movement was born following the seminal Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY (1848), Anthony joined the cause with enthusiasm and quickly became its most visible advocate. With her friend and fellow activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anthony gave speeches and organized protests around the country, and published a newspaper, "The Revolution," focused on women's rights.

In 1872, Anthony was arrested for attempting to vote in the presidential election, and the resulting trial brought significant national attention to the women's suffrage movement. Thereafter, the organization founded by Anthony and Stanton -- the National Woman Suffrage Association -- focused on calling for a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote.

Anthony died in 1906, 14 years before the 19th Amendment was passed, guaranteeing women's voting rights. Her grave in Rochester, NY, attracts many visitors who often leave thank-you notes and other memorials for her work on women's behalf. In 1979, she was selected as the first woman featured on a U.S. coin, the Susan B. Anthony dollar.