Anna Howard Shaw
A pioneering physician and minister who became a powerhouse orator for women's suffrage, mobilizing crowds with logic and fiery conviction.
1847–1919 (age 72)·19th- and 20th-century American women's suffrage leader·Birthday: February 14
Biography
Anna Howard Shaw's life was a series of defiant firsts. Born in England, her family's struggle on the Michigan frontier forged her resilience. She worked as a schoolteacher to put herself through college, then shattered barriers by earning a medical degree and becoming one of the first women ordained as a Methodist minister. It was the pulpit, however, that revealed her true calling: public speaking for women's rights. She joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association, where her clear, forceful speeches, grounded in moral argument and sharp wit, made her one of the movement's most effective campaigners. Serving as president from 1904 to 1915, she tirelessly crisscrossed the nation, converting skeptics and energizing supporters. Her leadership, blending intellectual rigor with evangelical fervor, was instrumental in building the public pressure that led to the Nineteenth Amendment.
#1 When Anna Was Born
The biggest hits of 1847
Anna's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1847Born
1852Started school
1860Became a teenager
1863Could drive
President: Abraham Lincoln
1865Could vote
President: Andrew Johnson
1868Turned 21
President: Andrew Johnson
1877Turned 30
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1887Turned 40
President: Grover Cleveland
1897Turned 50
President: William McKinley
1907Turned 60
Financial panic grips Wall Street
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1917Turned 70
Russian Revolution overthrows the tsar; US enters WWI
President: Woodrow Wilson
1919Died at 72
Treaty of Versailles signed; Prohibition ratified
President: Woodrow Wilson
Key Achievements
- Served as President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1904 to 1915.
- Became one of the first women ordained as a Methodist minister in the United States in 1880.
- Earned a medical degree from Boston University in 1886.
- Was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for her leadership of the Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense during World War I.
Did You Know?
She built her family's frontier log cabin herself as a teenager.
She was a close friend and colleague of Susan B. Anthony.
She gave an estimated 10,000 speeches in her lifetime advocating for women's suffrage.
She never married, dedicating her life entirely to her career and the suffrage cause.
“The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation, because in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.”
