A prominent suffragist and abolitionist, Lucy Stone dedicated herself to fighting inequality. From earliest childhood, she was fiercely independent and committed to obtaining an education, despite being a girl. She was the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. A lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society, Stone served on the executive committee of the American Equal Rights Association and helped form the American Woman Suffrage Association. Her first public speech on women’s rights took place in 1847 at the former Evangelical Congregational Church in Gardner, Massachusetts where her brother was the pastor.