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Lucretia Mott Facts

Lucretia Mott Facts
Lucretia Mott was one of the earliest advocates of women's rights in American history. She was a prominent abolitionist when women were still a long way from attaining the vote in the United States and would be one of the key organizers of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, which was the first women's rights conference in the history of the United States. Mott was born Lucretia Coffin to a well-established Quaker family in Nantucket, Massachusetts on January 3, 1793. For her education, Lucretia's family sent her to a boarding school in New York that was administered by the Quakers. Lucretia was deeply influenced by Quaker theology and even became a preacher in the Quaker church, the Society of Friends, early in her adulthood. She eventually went on to become a teacher and married James Mott in Philadelphia in 1811. The couple would later have six children.
Interesting Lucretia Mott Facts:
As a Quaker, Mott was raised in an anti-slavery household.
In the 1830s, Lucretia helped form the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society, which was comprised of both white and black women.
The Mott's housed several fugitive slaves at their home, becoming part of the legendary "Underground Railroad."
Lucretia was the subject of numerous violent threats for her abolitionist activities
She was selected as a delegate to attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840 in London, but excluded from most of the events along with the other American women.
Although officially excluded from taking part in the activities of the Convention, Mott made several important contacts there, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
She was a mentor to fellow proto-feminist of the era, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Mott was one of the signatories to the "Declaration of Sentiments" at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.
Mott had two of her most famous speeches published: "Sermon to the Medical Students (1849) and Discourse of a Woman (1850), which was published as a pamphlet.
Although generally a pacifist and anti-war, Mott supported the Union war effort during the Civil War.
Along with some other influential Quakers, Mott helped start Swarthmore college outside of Philadelphia in 1864, which subsequently was one of the first coeducational colleges in the United States.
She was elected as the first president of the American Equal Rights Association in 1866, although she left the organization two years later over political differences.
Mott helped form the ecumenical based Free Religious Association in 1867.
Mott died of pneumonia on November 11, 1880 at her home in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.
Lucretia was featured on a 1948 postal stamp, along with Carrie Chapman Catt and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, commemorating the Seneca Falls Convention.


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