In the 21st century, most people know Susan B. Anthony — if they know her at all — as a suffragette and someone whose likeness once appeared on a one-dollar coin. But like most great leaders, her life story actually included more than two facts. Such as:

1. She was a great abolitionist…

While she might be known as a champion of women’s rights, Susan (sorry, we’re going to break with style here because it feels weird to call a woman by her surname “Anthony”) was also a significant player in the fight for racial equality. Her parents’ home was a meeting spot for significant abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, and Susan was also involved in work for the Underground Railroad. Notably, she was actually a proponent of full racial equality — far more liberal than most of her contemporary abolitionists.

2. …but opposed the Fifteenth Amendment

Just a few years after the end of the Civil War, there was an ultimately successful movement to extend suffrage to people of all races. Though she was a champion of civil rights, Susan was also an ardent feminist and was unwilling to support an amendment that expanded suffrage but did not give it to women. In fact, she campaigned against it.

3. That “B” doesn’t really belong

We all know her as Susan B. Anthony, but you know who didn’t know her middle initial? Her parents (at least at birth). When Susan was young, “there came a great craze for middle initials.” Not having one, she chose “B” because it was the first letter of the married surname of the aunt for whom she was named.

4. Susan was a proponent of temperance

In truth, this is not shocking. Many proponents of women’s rights were also in favor of temperance (the movements found a common enemy in drunk, abusive husbands). At any rate, Susan was quite active in the movement during her younger years, including collecting signatures to try to abolish the sale of alcohol in New York State.

Susan was an excellent speaker, and while she tried to speak at temperance conventions, she was stopped due to her sex in at least one instance. Her wry comment years later? “No advanced step taken by women has been so bitterly contested as that of speaking in public.” 

5. She was arrested for voting

In 1872, the United States saw an interesting election. Incumbent president Ulysses S. Grant won the Republican nomination, but he didn’t run against a Democrat; the Democratic party, instead of putting up their own candidate, supported Horace Greeley, who was running as a Liberal Republican (a third party that didn’t survive quite as long as your typical goldfish).

Susan B. Anthony went to the polls and voted, but was arrested for voting illegally. But that was what she expected, and she thought she had a good legal defense. The recently passed (post-Civil War) 14th amendment prevents states from “mak[ing] or enforc[ing] any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” As a citizen, Susan would happily argue, she could not have her voting rights abridged.

At the trial, Susan gave an impassioned speech about women’s suffrage, but the judge didn’t see things her way and Susan was found guilty. She was fined $100, but vowed not to pay it and never did.

6. Susan was highly involved in publishing a newspaper

On January 8, 1868, Susan launched a new newspaper, The Revolution. The weekly publication championed women’s rights and other issues, and cost $2 for an annual subscription. Susan was the “proprietor and manager,” while her long-time colleague Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of two editors. (Don’t believe me, check out this link.)

The paper’s motto was “Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.”

7. While she may not have seen her dreams achieved, she certainly made a dent

Susan fought long and hard for women’s suffrage, but died more than a decade before the Nineteenth Amendment was passed and women received the right to vote. Still, she saw her work bear fruit. Before she died, women had received voting rights in a number of states, and had also made significant progress in other arenas.