Stone, Lucy

Lucy Stone was a prominent American abolitionist and suffragist. She was the wife of American abolitionist Henry Brown Blackwell, and the mother of suffragette and human rights defender Alice Stone Blackwell. Lucy Stone is known for being the first recorded American woman to keep her own last name upon marriage. Many women who keep their maiden names after marriage are referred to as “Lucy Stoners.” The Lucy Stone League in New York City was established in 1921, dedicated to aiding women in keeping and legally using their maiden names after marriage.

Lucy Stone was born the eighth of nine children on August 13, 1818, in West Brookfield, Massachusetts. As a young girl, Lucy watched her father manage his household by “divine right.” She was intelligent and hungry for learning, but was not formally educated like her brothers, simply because she was a female. The abolitionist women's rights sisters Sarah and Angelina Grimké inspired young Lucy. As she began to speak about equality for women, people responded with biblical quotations about the roles of men and women. Lucy resolved to learn Greek and Hebrew so she could read scriptures without the aid of translation, and correct any mistranslations that she was sure existed among the male-dominated church leadership.

Her father would not support her education, so Lucy financed her own education, teaching to earn money. She enrolled in what is now Mount Holyoke College in 1839. At age 25, she registered for classes at Oberlin College, a small liberal arts college in northern Ohio, the first to admit both women and African Americans. Lucy continued to teach and took on housework jobs to pay for her tuition, graduating in 1847. College leaders asked Lucy to write a commencement speech, but explained that a man would have to read it for her because, even at Oberlin, female public speaking was not allowed. Lucy refused.