author
Anna Howard Shaw
1847–1919
A pioneering minister, physician, and suffrage leader, she helped turn the fight for women’s voting rights into a national movement. Her life joined public speaking, social reform, and stubborn determination in a way that still feels striking today.
1 Audiobook
The Story of a Pioneer
by Anna Howard Shaw, Elizabeth Garver Jordan
About the author
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Anna Howard Shaw moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Michigan. She became one of the first women ordained as a Methodist minister in the United States, later also earning a medical degree.
Shaw was a powerful lecturer and organizer, and she became one of the best-known leaders of the American woman suffrage movement. She worked closely with Susan B. Anthony and went on to serve as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, helping bring the campaign for votes for women to audiences across the country.
She died in 1919, just before the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. Remembered for her energy, wit, and forceful speaking, she stands out as a major figure in the long struggle for women’s rights.