Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Philosophy of Social Justice in Education

Abstract

Historical discussions of social justice in education and its impact on society tend to focus on Brown v. TheBoard of Education (1954), as an antidote to Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which enshrined the infamous"separate but equal" dictum for racially segregated schools. One person rarely considered in the discussion,yet critical because of her enormous public influence in her day, is Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Most knowCady Stanton as a founder of the Women's Movement in America , and as an advocate for women.However, Cady Stanton also provided a well-documented, systematically developed theory on social justicein education. This surprised us, since her work received enormous scrutiny when feminists of the 1960s and1970s worked to unearth forgotten women. Believing that advancing women's place in educational thoughtrequires understanding the contributions of women to educational thought, we set out to understand CadyStanton's philosophy of social justice in education.