History of feminism
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott met in 1840 while en route to London where they were shunned as women by the male leadership of the first World's Anti-Slavery Convention. In 1848, Mott and Stanton held a woman's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, where a declaration of independence for women was drafted. Lucy Stone helped to organize the first National Women's Rights Convention in 1850, a much larger event at which Sojourner Truth, Abby Kelley Foster, and others spoke sparked Susan B. Anthony to take up the cause of women's rights. In December 1851, Sojourner Truth contributed to the feminist movement when she spoke at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio. She delivered her powerful “Ain’t I a Woman” speech in an effort to promote women’s rights by demonstrating their ability to accomplish tasks that have been traditionally associated with men. Barbara Leigh Smith met with Mott in 1858, strengthening the link between the transatlantic feminist movements.
Social justice feminism
During the 1899 New Women’s Movement Initiative (NWMI), Social Justice Feminism was made the emphasis of the women's movement. The NWMI was a series of meetings meant to “build relationships, trust, and analysis necessary to revitalize US feminism” During these meetings, there was a struggle to agree on, “whether the women’s movement should aspire to be about [women’s] rights or social justice”. Those who wanted it to be about women’s rights feared that a social justice title would ignore the discrimination that women face. This is due to the fact feminism and the beginnings of the woman’s movement was portrayed as for white middle aged women. Therefore, these white women did not want the movement to be seen as social justice. They did not understand that by viewing it as social justice feminism, it includes more people’s right than just theirs; it includes minorities just as much. Ultimately, the NWMI wanted to “regain momentum in the political arena” so the women agreed to base the movement on promoting principles of social justice feminism.