The first National Women’s Rights Convention begins | October 23, 1850 | HISTORY

Suffragist organizers hold the first-ever National Women’s Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts on October 23, 1850.

More than 1,000 delegates from 11 states arrived for the two-day conference, which had been planned by members of the Anti-Slavery Society.

The convention followed the steps laid out at the landmark Seneca Falls Convention two years before: “In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object.”