If you walked into a high school history class today, most kids could tell you Susan B. Anthony was the lady on the silver dollar who fought for women to vote. But if you ask them about the end of her life, things get a little fuzzy. Most people assume she died a victorious old woman, watching the first female voters head to the polls.
She didn't.
Honestly, the reality is much more bittersweet. Susan B. Anthony was exactly 86 years old when she died on March 13, 1906. She had spent over sixty years—basically her entire adult life—fighting for a right she never actually got to exercise herself.
How Old Was Susan B. Anthony When She Died?
To understand those 86 years, you have to look at how they ended. She died at her home on Madison Street in Rochester, New York. It wasn't a sudden thing; she had been struggling with heart disease and pneumonia in both lungs.
Imagine being 86 in 1906. There were no antibiotics. No modern heart medication. Just a drafty house and the weight of a movement that felt like it was moving at a snail's pace. Just a month before she passed away, she was in Washington, D.C., celebrating her birthday at the National Woman Suffrage Association. She was so frail she could barely stand, yet she gave a speech that ended with the iconic line, "Failure is impossible!"
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Those were her last public words.
She wasn't just old; she was exhausted. Her friend Anna Howard Shaw stayed by her side during those final days. According to accounts from the time, Anthony looked at Shaw and said something that still stings to read: “To think I have had more than 60 years of hard struggle for a little liberty, and then to die without it seems so cruel.”
A Life Measured in Decades of Defiance
Susan wasn't born into a world that wanted her to lead. Born February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts, she was raised Quaker. That meant she grew up believing everyone was equal under God, which was a pretty radical idea for the early 1800s.
She started as a teacher. She noticed she was getting paid $2.50 a month while the male teachers were getting $10 for the same work. That’s the kind of thing that sticks with you.
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By her 30s, she was deep into the temperance and anti-slavery movements. By her 50s, she was getting arrested for "illegal voting" in the 1872 presidential election. She refused to pay the $100 fine, and guess what? The government never actually forced her to. They didn't want her to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The 14-Year Gap
Here is the part that messes with people's heads. Susan B. Anthony died in 1906. The 19th Amendment—the one that actually gave women the right to vote—wasn't ratified until 1920.
That is a 14-year gap.
She missed the finish line by over a decade. It’s sort of like running a marathon for 26 miles and then having the race called off just as you see the tape. But the 19th Amendment is often called the "Susan B. Anthony Amendment" because everyone knew she was the engine that drove it.
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Why Her Age at Death Matters Today
When we talk about how old was Susan B. Anthony when she died, we aren't just talking about a number on a tombstone at Mount Hope Cemetery. We’re talking about the stamina of a person who refused to quit when the world told her "no" for eight decades.
She saw the Civil War. She saw the end of slavery. She saw the industrial revolution change the face of America. And through all of it, she remained focused on a single goal.
If you visit her grave in Rochester today, especially during an election year, it’s covered in "I Voted" stickers. People leave them on her headstone as a way of saying, "We finished it for you." It’s a pretty moving sight.
Actionable Insights from Susan’s Final Years
If we can learn anything from an 86-year-old woman dying in 1906, it's these three things:
- Play the long game. Most of the things worth doing take longer than a human lifetime to fully realize. Anthony knew she might not see the vote, but she built the infrastructure for the women who would.
- Your voice has a shelf life, so use it. Even at 86, with failing lungs, she traveled to D.C. to speak. She didn't let "old age" be an excuse for silence.
- Success is a relay race. Anthony mentored younger activists like Carrie Chapman Catt. She knew the movement needed fresh legs to cross the finish line.
To truly honor her legacy, don't just remember her age. Remember that she was still working a month before she died. She never saw the victory, but she never doubted it was coming. That’s the kind of grit that changes history.
Visit the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House website to see digital archives of her letters. Or, if you're ever in New York, stop by Mount Hope Cemetery. Seeing the stickers on her grave puts the scale of her 86-year life into a perspective that no history book can quite capture.