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Startling Similarities: Susan B Anthony and Mohandas Gandhi

Rochester’s  hometown hero, Susan B Anthony, died 99 years ago this year.  She’s been a hero of mine for a long, long time, particularly for her stated commitment to spend her life to work on a problem that she might not live to see solved.

At the end, friends pleaded with Anthony to soften her position and support partial voting rights for women, to have an opportunities to experience a ‘win’.  She declined.

That kind of vision and backbone, even at the end of a long, difficult life of activism, inspires me deeply.  I was also intrigued by the similarities I have found between her and Gandhi, from reading their letters.  Below is a reflection I wrote for the Gandhi Institute newsletter in 2010, reflecting on their shared qualities:

I am reading a collection of Susan B Anthony’s letters and became bemused at how often her words and actions reminded me of Gandhi, so much so that I started a list!

  • Like him, she edited a newspaper and believed that the media was a force for social change.
  • Like him, she never touched alcohol, ate sparingly, walked daily, and was vigorous and sharp into a late old age.
  • There are other similarities-both were penny pinchers, very careful with money and detailed with budgets for their projects.
  • Neither of them ever collected or cared about personal wealth.
  • Both of them were born into families with strong religious beliefs and were so tolerant of other faith traditions that they were at times chastised for their tolerance by friend and foe alike.
  • Each became famous and didn’t let it turn their head, they retained a sense of humility and very sharp senses of humor, able to laugh especially at themselves and their own foibles.
  • Both were canny political strategists who were consumed by their sense of mission in life.
  • Both travelled extensively and often at a pace that exhausted younger people, speaking at hundreds if not thousands of events to educate and inform over decades of public service.
  • Both wore trademark garb-Gandhi in his dhoti, Susan in her formal black dress and alligator bag.
  • Last – each of them believed fervently in supporting women to be recognized and accorded the same rights as men.

Recently I read a reflection that said, in essence, we don’t need another Gandhi, we just need many, many people trying to become more like him. Perhaps the similarities between these two passionate human rights heroes helps to point the way

 

by Kit Miller

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