Few people in the 19^th-century inspired change more than Lucretia (Coffin) Mott. At the time of her death in 1880 she was called “the most venerated woman in America” for her work as a leader in the women’s rights and anti-slavery movements. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was named for her and her statue today stands in the crypt at the US capitol along with statues of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Lucretia Mott was also a mother to six children, a wife deeply devoted to her husband James and a travelling Quaker minister. She also played host to countless visitors, many of them noted activists of the time.

From Margaret Hope Bacon’s Valiant Friend – the life of Lucretia Mott: “(Abolitionist) William Lloyd Garrison was Lucretia’s close and admiring friend. She brought Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Abby Kelley Foster into the struggle for woman’s rights, and inspired the young Susan B. Anthony. She led the historic Seneca Falls Convention on woman’s rights, helped to found and support he first woman’s medical college, and persuaded President Grant to grant a partial amnesty to some Modoc Indians condemned to die for resisting resettlement. In hundreds of way, she fought for equality for blacks, women, native Americans, immigrants and the poor.”

In honour of International Women’s Month I am dedicating the next ten blogs to this woman who features prominently in Emma Field, Books Two and Three.