Lucretia Mott

Hello! My name is Lucretia Mott. I want to tell you my story. I was born on a little island called Nantucket, Massachusetts, on January 3rd, 1793. Growing up as a member of the Quaker faith, I was taught a very important idea: that every single person has a special 'inner light,' which means everyone is equal and deserves respect. This idea became the guide for my whole life, and it inspired me to speak up for people who weren't being treated fairly.

When I was 13 years old, I went to a Quaker boarding school called Nine Partners. I absolutely loved learning! While I was there, I also met a kind and thoughtful young man named James Mott. After I finished being a student, I became a teacher at the very same school. That's when I discovered something that felt very wrong: the male teachers were paid much more money than the female teachers for doing the exact same job! It was one of the first times I saw for myself that women were not treated as equals. James and I got married on April 10th, 1811. He became my partner in everything, and he always supported my work to make the world a fairer place.

My Quaker beliefs also taught me that it was deeply wrong for one person to own another. This practice was called slavery, and I knew I had to do everything I could to stop it. In 1821, I became a Quaker minister, which gave me more opportunities to speak to people about why slavery had to end. People who worked to end slavery were called abolitionists. My husband James and I were dedicated abolitionists, and we even stopped using things like cotton cloth and sugar that were made by enslaved people. In 1833, I helped start the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society with other women who felt the same way. It was sometimes scary work, as some people got very angry with us for speaking out, but I refused to be silent. I believed it was my duty to fight for the freedom of all people.

In 1840, James and I traveled all the way across the ocean to London, England, for the World Anti-Slavery Convention. I was so excited to meet other abolitionists from around the globe. But when we arrived, the men in charge told the women, including me, that we were not allowed to speak or even sit with the men. We had to sit separately behind a curtain! It was there that I met a young woman named Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and we were both so disappointed and angry. We promised each other that when we returned to America, we would hold a meeting to fight for the rights of women. Eight years later, we kept that promise. On July 19th and 20th of 1848, we organized the Seneca Falls Convention in New York. It was the very first big meeting for women's rights in the United States, and it started a movement that would change history.

I spent the rest of my life traveling and speaking about equality for everyone—for enslaved people and for women. It was not always easy, but I never gave up hope that things could get better. I lived to be 87 years old. Today, people remember me as someone who wasn't afraid to use her voice to help others. I am proud that the conversations we started all those years ago grew into powerful movements that continue to make the world a more equal and just place for all.