When Henry Met Lucy

The true love story of radical reformers Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell

In 1853, Lucy Stone was possibly the most famous single woman in America, in possession of a hard-earned fortune of her own, and definitely not in want of a husband. At the time, when a woman married she became “one with her husband” and legally nonexistent. As such, husbands were “tyrants” over their wives. Any money she earned belonged to to her husband. There was no notion of consent—she  said yes on her wedding day and that was that. The husband had complete custody over any children she bore. Even to the extent that if he died, the mom didn’t get to keep her own kids. This is hardly the stuff of a happy ever after. 

But this is a love story. I promise.