Honestly, if you close your eyes and think of Susan B. Anthony, you probably see the same thing everyone else does: a stern, elderly woman in a black dress with a lace collar, looking like she’s about to lecture you on your civic duties. That image didn't happen by accident. In fact, susan b anthony photos were some of the most carefully managed pieces of political PR in the 19th century.
She knew exactly what she was doing.
Back in the day, being a female reformer was dangerous. We’re talking mobs, flying eggs, and being burned in effigy. To counter the "manly" and "unhinged" caricatures the press loved to draw, Anthony used photography to create a brand of respectable, unstoppable dignity.
The Strategy Behind the Lens
You've gotta realize that photography was the social media of the 1800s. While her peer Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the philosopher-writer of the movement, Anthony was the organizer and the face. She basically invented the "influencer" strategy before it had a name.
Starting around 1848, she began a tradition of having her portrait taken on her birthday. It wasn’t just vanity; it was a record of persistence. One of the earliest known susan b anthony photos shows her at age 28, a headmistress with a sharp, direct gaze that never really softened over the next sixty years.
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She deliberately chose "manly" poses for some shots—sitting at a desk, surrounded by papers, or standing tall next to Stanton—to signal that women belonged in the halls of power. But she balanced it with that famous black silk dress and a red cameo. It was her uniform. It said, "I am a lady, but I am also your equal."
That One Famous 1900 Portrait
The photo you see in every history textbook was taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston around 1900. Johnston was a pioneer herself, one of the first professional female photojournalists in the U.S.
In this shot, Anthony is about 80. She looks like a granite statue.
It’s the definitive image of "The Woman Who Dared."
Interestingly, there’s a whole collection of photos from that era that show a much more human side. There are shots of her and Stanton together, sometimes looking tired, sometimes sharing a half-smile that suggests an inside joke. Their partnership was the "thunder and lightning" of the suffrage movement. Stanton would say, "I forged the thunderbolts, she fired them."
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Portraits vs. Reality
While the official photos show a stoic leader, the raw history is a bit messier.
- The Bloomer Phase: In the early 1850s, Anthony wore the "bloomer" outfit—short skirts over Turkish-style trousers. She eventually quit because people focused more on her pants than her speeches. There are very few photos of her in this gear because it was "bad for the brand."
- The 1872 Arrest: When she was arrested for "illegal voting," she didn't hide. She leaned into the notoriety. While we don't have a "mugshot" in the modern sense, the sketches and portraits from that year were used to show her as a political prisoner rather than a common criminal.
- The "Official" Selection: After her death in 1906, the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Association actually selected a specific 1905 photo by J.E. Hale as the "official" one to be used in schools and libraries. They wanted to control her legacy even from the grave.
Why the Photos Matter Now
If you’re looking for susan b anthony photos today, you’re usually finding them in the Library of Congress or the National Archives. But looking at them as "art" misses the point. They were weapons.
She used her face to argue that women weren't "hysterical" or "unfit." She presented herself as a stable, intellectual force. It worked so well that by the 1890s, she went from being the most hated woman in America to a national grandmother figure. Even the men who hated her ideas started respecting her "grit."
There’s a nuance here that gets lost in the "girl boss" retellings of history. Anthony wasn't perfect. Her focus on white, middle-class women's suffrage meant she often sidelined women of color, and her photos reflect that—she was building an image of a leader that the white establishment would find "acceptable."
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Real Insights for History Buffs
If you want to see the real Susan, look past the 1900 portrait. Find the 1891 photo by J.H. Kent where she’s standing over Stanton’s shoulder. You can see the exhaustion in her eyes. Or look at the 1895 shots of her in Yosemite National Park—she traveled there by mule!
Actionable Steps for Researching Her Image:
- Check the Digital ID: Most authentic high-res versions are at the Library of Congress under Digital ID cph 3a02558 or similar. Don't trust the grainy "retouched" versions on Pinterest that mess with the contrast.
- Compare the Ages: Line up a photo from 1848, 1870, and 1905. The clothing barely changes, but the set of her jaw gets firmer. It’s a masterclass in consistent branding.
- Look for the Cameo: She almost always wore a specific cameo pin. It became a symbol for suffragists, a way to identify each other in a crowd.
The 19th Amendment—often called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment—didn't pass until 1920, fourteen years after she died. She never got to see the "official" version of her victory, but she left behind a visual roadmap of how she got there.
Study the shadows in those old daguerreotypes. You aren't just looking at a woman; you're looking at a 50-year-long chess game played with light and silver plates.