1885
In December 1885, Susan B. Anthony’s youngest sister, Mary S. Anthony, invited women to meet in her Rochester home to discuss the possibility of forming a local women’s political club. The resulting Rochester Political Equality Club and others like it served as affiliates of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. Working at the local level, thousands of club women appealed to their elected officials to appoint women to patronage jobs, gathered signatures on petitions demanding woman suffrage, and hosted lectures to educate citizens about women’s rights issues, ensuring that the movement and its message were widespread.