Today is the anniversary of the Women's Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. It is considered by many scholars [and by the young woman in my household who has a minor in Women's Studies from William Smith College] to be the formative moment in American feminism. One of the reasons that Seneca Falls was the site of this conference is that it was the hometown of Cady and Bloomer; both of whom were members of Trinity Episcopal Church in Seneca Falls.
There are many sources with information about Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, both of whom have inspiring life stories. Likewise Amelia Bloomer, who was a popular public speaker, especially when she would appear in churches to discuss her underpants [or "bloomers"]. She was also a committed missionary of the frontier.
From a scholarly point of view, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was perhaps the most interesting, as she may have been the first "progressive" in the Church to use her religion mainly as a platform for political commentary. As we now live in an era when even sermons are to be judged more for their political correctness than for fealty to developed Christian thought, this historical addition to common discourse is worth noting.
[I say this chiefly because I was a seminarian during the Church's most politically guilty period and was privy to well over 100 sermons preached from the seminary chapel's pulpit, only two of which I remember were actually about Jesus. One sermon was entirely about the preacher's daughter's battle with drug addiction. A compelling and sympathetic story, certainly, and one that I thought would be worth putting into context with the salvation offered by the resurrected Christ. Apparently, the preacher did not agree and never did mention Our Lord in his entire oration.
Later in my career, when I was responsible for a staff of four other clergy, one of the associate priests would, in essence, preach the New York Times Op/Ed page. He called it a sermon because he sprinkled two or three references to God into it. God, mind you, never Jesus.]
Anyway, there are many, many sources of information about these women and their stories should be known. Certainly, we should always remember such visionaries in our prayers:
O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servants Elizabeth, Amelia, Sojourner, and Harriet. Give us vision and courage to stand against oppression and injustice and all that works against the glorious liberty to which you call all your children; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.* Powers That Be
[An unfortunate postscript: My niece Amanda is educated about the significance of this date in feminist history, especially as William Smith College is very near Seneca Falls. However, I was a little surprised to discover that never was there any kind of field trip to this place of importance. I was not surprised to discover that no one at Hobart/William Smith College, an Episcopal Church institution of higher learning, knew or taught that Stanton and Bloomer were Episcopalians. Conventional wisdom in the over-priced palaces of higher learning often holds that Christianity was not a part of life for feminist icons.]