• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Museum President: Susan B. Anthony Being ‘Defamed’

November 5, 2014 by John Warren 1 Comment

FeministsforlifeposterThe recent activities of the Susan B. Anthony List, a 501(c)(4) organization, and its affiliated political action committee, the SBA List Candidate Fund, have raised concerns at Rochester’s Susan B. Anthony Museum & House, part of an ongoing dispute over anti-abortion activists and social conservatives using Anthony’s name.

“We can make room for a different interpretation of history, and we certainly support political engagement,” says Deborah L. Hughes, President and CEO of the Anthony Museum, “but their tactics repeatedly cross a line that is outrageous and inconsistent with who Susan B. Anthony was. Her good character is being defamed by their actions. People are outraged by their actions, causing harm to Anthony’s name and the mission of our Museum.”

Susan B Anthony Public Health MailerHughes cites as a most recent example an election mailer that voters in Iowa received shortly before election day. The envelope looks like an official government announcement of a disease outbreak, labelled “PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT” and claiming “CHILDREN IN YOUR AREA ARE VULNERABLE TO A PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT THAT CONTINUES UNCONTROLLED.”  Inside, it identifies the public health threat as a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

When contacted about the mailing, Mallory Quigley, spokesperson for The Susan B. Anthony List, responded in an email that, “Abortion is a very serious public health risk both for the child whose life is ended and the mother who may suffer health complications. Voters deserve to know where their candidates stand on this life and death issue.”

“The Anthony Museum is dedicated to preserving and interpreting Susan B. Anthony’s life and work in a historically accurate and responsible manner,” a statement from the museum to the press said. “Unfortunately, the confusion that results from the actions of The List and its affiliates is not new.”

“Depending on how you feel about the political issue, you might say The List and this mailer are ‘brilliant’ or ‘horrific.’  That isn’t our issue,” says Hughes. “Our concern is that a national political lobbying group is using Susan B. Anthony’s good name for their benefit, and they are damaging her reputation in the process.”

Photo: A meme of Susan B. Anthony’s image and mis-quoted text, used by Feminists for Life to portray her as “anti-choice”. The quote however, deals with child custody in estate law rather than abortion.

 

 

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Gender History, Political History, Rochester, Susan B. Anthony House

About John Warren

John Warren is founder and editor of the New York Almanack. He's been a media professional for more than 35 years with a focus on history, journalism and documentary production. He has a master's degree in Public History and is on the staff of the New York State Writers Institute, a center for literary arts based at the University at Albany. John lives in the Adirondack Park. He is co-founder of Adirondack Atlas, a geolocation, database and mapping services company serving the region, and his weekly Adirondack Outdoors Conditions Report airs across Northern New York on the North Country Public Radio network.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Marjory Allen Perez says

    November 6, 2014 at 6:03 AM

    Don’t know why I should be surprised. The moral compass of fanaticism seems to be non existent. Very disheartening regardless.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Help Us Reach Our Fundraising Goal For 2020

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Ken Sacharin on Controversy Over Development At New York’s Seaport Historic District
  • Joanne Gorman on Controversy Over Development At New York’s Seaport Historic District
  • M. Levine on Catskills Resorts: The Beginning of the End
  • kent barwick on Controversy Over Development At New York’s Seaport Historic District
  • James S. Kaplan on The Case Against Peter Stuyvesant
  • RiK Rydant on Charbot Germain’s Wrong Turn: An Adirondack Trucking Story
  • Jim on The Case Against Peter Stuyvesant
  • Terry Bright - Formerly of Ticonderoga, New York on Early Adirondack Surveys: The Great Corner & An Ancient Boundary
  • Editorial Staff on Early Adirondack Surveys: The Great Corner & An Ancient Boundary
  • Luis chic0 on Remembering Goldwater Hospital in NYC

Recent New York Books

Too Long Ago Amsterdam
NY War of 1812 Cover
driving while black
Craft book
Sittin In
sanctuary
Mysterious Stone Sites in the Hudson Valley and Northern New Jersey
Everything Worthy of Observation: The 1826 New York State Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott by Paul G. Schneider Jr.
the inland sea

Secondary Sidebar

New York State Historic Markers