Newspapers are filled with obituaries<\/a> and profiles<\/a> that help us better understand the lives of our ancestors\u2014and the famous people who lived during their times. You can use historical newspapers to research their public careers and trace their family trees. The following old newspaper articles about these three famous Americans are good examples.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Cady Stanton<\/strong> (1815-1902)<\/p>\n An activist from an early age, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was involved in the abolitionist and temperance movements\u2014but the cause to which she primarily devoted her considerable powers was women\u2019s rights and their equality before the law, especially the right to vote. She was instrumental in organizing the first women\u2019s rights convention: the Seneca Falls Convention, a two-day meeting convened on July 19, 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York.<\/p>\n Over 300 people attended the women\u2019s rights convention, whose highlight was the reading and discussion of a statement of women\u2019s rights called the Declaration of Sentiments, primarily written by Stanton. After much debate, the declaration (deliberately modeled after the Declaration of Independence) was signed by 100 of the participants: 68 women and 32 men.<\/p>\n Of the 12 resolutions debated and approved at the convention, the most controversial was the ninth, written by Stanton. It read: \u201cResolved, that it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.\u201d Women\u2019s suffrage was a divisive issue and many of the convention\u2019s participants opposed its inclusion, fearing that an element this controversial would weaken support for women\u2019s equality. However, others argued persuasively in favor of supporting women\u2019s suffrage\u2014and in the end the voting rights resolution was approved.<\/p>\n Stanton met another pioneering suffragist, Susan B. Anthony, in 1851, and the two women were close friends and allies in the women\u2019s rights movement for the rest of Stanton\u2019s life.<\/p>\n This obituary was published the day after Stanton died.<\/p>\n This tribute to Stanton was published two days after she died.<\/p>\n It concluded: \u201cMrs. Stanton fell far short of her aim, in what she actually accomplished, just as Susan B. Anthony finds herself far short of the goal toward which she has struggled [the 19th<\/sup> Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was not ratified until 1920]. The world is not ready to grant their contention in its fullness, and indeed is still to a great degree hostile toward it, but the two remarkable women long ago won recognition of the principle by which they were inspired, and through that recognition extended the power of women in public affairs to a wonderful degree, and made great progress toward establishing women in a position more equitable with that of men so far as property rights are concerned.<\/p>\n \u201cWork like that carried on by Mrs. Stanton cannot cease with her life, nor can it end when Miss Anthony, her illustrious co-worker, passes away. It is everlasting, and will constantly bring fresh benefits to womankind.\u201d<\/p>\n Jackie Robinson<\/strong> (1919-1972)<\/p>\n A superb all-around athlete and a man of strong principles, Jackie Robinson is most remembered as the African American who broke baseball\u2019s color barrier when he started a game for the Brooklyn Dodgers on 15 April 1947. Despite vicious racial taunts and threats, Robinson played the game with great intensity and excellence, gradually winning the respect and admiration of most of his peers and helping to advance the cause of the Civil Rights Movement in America.<\/p>\n During his 10-year baseball career, Robinson played in six World Series, had a lifetime batting average of .311, won the Rookie of the Year award in 1947, and was the National League Most Valuable Player in 1949. He became the first African American player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame when he was accepted in 1962, in his initial year of eligibility.<\/p>\n After his professional baseball career ended, Robinson continued to break racial barriers with a series of firsts for an African American: baseball television analyst; vice-president of a major American corporation (Chock full o\u2019Nuts); one of the co-founders of an African American-owned financial institution called the Freedom National Bank; owner of a construction company that built housing for low-income families.<\/p>\n Robinson died a much-respected figure on 24 October 1972 of complications from diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease at the young age (for a prime athlete) of 53. After his death tributes poured in for the man who had accomplished\u2014and endured\u2014so much.<\/p>\n This tribute, published in the newspaper the day after Robinson died, told a story about his minor league playing career with the Montreal Royals that showed how much testing Robinson had to endure.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Tell you what I\u2019m gonna do, Clay. I\u2019m gonna knock him (Robinson) down a couple of times and see what he\u2019s made of.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cRobinson had to eat dirt to avoid a high, inside pitch his first time up, but then picked himself up and singled. Derringer decked him again the next time up, but Robinson bludgeoned a screaming triple to left-center.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018He\u2019ll do, Clay,\u2019 Derringer hollered into the Montreal dugout.\u201d<\/p>\n This tribute to Robinson was penned by famed sportswriter Red Smith.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018No,\u2019 Jackie said. \u2018housing is the first thing. Unless he\u2019s got a home he wants to come back to, it doesn\u2019t matter what kind of school he goes to.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n This Jackie Robinson obituary article was published the day after he died.<\/p>\n It included a tribute to Robinson from the head of baseball: \u201cBaseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn said Robinson was unsurpassed in contribution to sports. \u2018His entire life was courage. Courage as the black pioneer of the game. Courage in the way he fought for what he believed.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Rosa Parks<\/strong> (1913-2005)<\/p>\n When Rosa Parks, an African American woman in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her bus seat to a white person on Dec. 1, 1955, her act of resistance ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott\u2014which in turn accelerated the Civil Rights Movement and forever changed America. It was not that Parks was too physically tired to move that evening, though it was the end of another long day working as a seamstress in the Montgomery Fair department store. Nor was she old and infirm; at 42, she was a strong and healthy African American woman. She had simply had enough of the city\u2019s segregation laws that gave whites more rights than blacks.<\/p>\n Her arrest for refusing white bus driver James Blake\u2019s order to give up her seat on the bus galvanized the African American community in Montgomery. Thousands of leaflets were distributed calling for a boycott of the city\u2019s buses until the Jim Crow segregation laws were changed. The boycott was led by a young minister, Martin Luther King, Jr., who soon rose to national prominence as a civil rights leader. After 381 days the segregation laws were finally changed and blacks once again rode Montgomery\u2019s buses\u2014but that victory was only the start of a movement much, much bigger.<\/p>\n The Civil Rights Movement gained momentum, and Rosa Parks went on to receive national recognition\u2014including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.<\/p>\n This 1955 news article reported on her arrest, fining, and the subsequent bus boycott.<\/p>\n \u201cMeanwhile, other Negroes boycotted city buses in protest against the woman\u2019s arrest. Police cars and motorcycles followed the busses to avert trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n This obituary and appreciation was published in the newspaper two days after Parks died.<\/p>\n It reported: \u201cAttorney Vernita Hervey, a civil rights activist, said Parks\u2019 defiance of Alabama\u2019s Jim Crow laws sparked an uprising that \u2018probably was the defining moment in African-American collective action.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n To honor Parks, this drawing graced the editorial page of the Register Star<\/em>.<\/p>\n Today there is even an American holiday in Rosa Parks\u2019 honor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Newspaper Obituaries<\/a> provide personal details about someone\u2019s life that can\u2019t be found elsewhere\u2014whether they are stories about our ancestors or articles about famous people we\u2019re interested in. GenealogyBank features two collections of online obituaries:<\/p>\n Dig into these obituary archives today and see what you can discover about your family tree and the famous people you admire most!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During this October week in American history three pioneering activists died who had a big impact on American society: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women\u2019s rights activist, died at 86 on 26 October 1902 Jack Roosevelt \u201cJackie\u201d Robinson, American baseball player and civil rights activist, died at 53 on 24 October 1972 Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[5393,1603,1045,5408,5410,7990,5397,5418,5409,5398,3343,5414,5406,5413,2791,1658,2233,5411,5425,465,2424,5415,5405,5391,5421,5419,5420,1595,3345,5416,455,2020,27,530,1084,5059,5404,5412,5423,5417,5402,5403,3346,5422,5389,5390,3717,5401,5407,5424,5399,5394,5396,5400,5395],"class_list":["post-5068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-activists","tag-al","tag-alabama","tag-anthony","tag-baseball-hall-of-fame","tag-baseball-history","tag-baseball-players","tag-bowie-kuhn","tag-brooklyn-dodgers","tag-civil-rights-activists","tag-civil-rights-movement","tag-clay-hopper","tag-declaration-of-sentiments","tag-derringer","tag-elizabeth-cady-stanton","tag-family-history-2","tag-family-research","tag-freedom-national-bank","tag-hervey","tag-historical-newspapers","tag-historical-obituaries","tag-hopper","tag-jack-roosevelt-jackie-robinson","tag-jackie-robinson","tag-jim-crow","tag-kuhn","tag-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-montgomery","tag-montgomery-bus-boycott","tag-montreal-royals","tag-new-york","tag-newspaper-archives","tag-newspapers","tag-ny","tag-obituaries","tag-obituary-archives","tag-parks","tag-paul-derringer","tag-racial-discrimination","tag-red-smith","tag-robinson","tag-rosa-louise-mccauley-parks","tag-rosa-parks","tag-segregation","tag-seneca-falls","tag-seneca-falls-convention","tag-smith","tag-stanton","tag-susan-b-anthony","tag-vernita-hervey","tag-womens-rights-activists","tag-womens-rights-movement","tag-womens-suffrage","tag-womens-suffrage-activists","tag-womens-suffrage-movement"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Woman's](\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/denver-post-newspaper-1027-1902-elizabeth-cady-stanton-obituary.png\" "\\"denver-post-newspaper-1027-1902-elizabeth-cady-stanton-obituary\\"")
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