Is a women's rights activist and abolitionist the same?

Answer 1

No, these were two different things, and members of each movement had different priorities (even though sometimes the priorities did intersect.) Back in the era when America still had slavery, abolitionists, some of whom were women, fought to end (or abolish) slavery and to give black people equal rights. But that didn't mean abolitionists didn't care about women's rights-- it just wasn't their main focus. Similarly, a women's rights activist could certainly be an abolitionist, and many were. But women's rights activists, who were often called "suffragists," focused on getting women the right to vote or helping married women to achieve more rights under the law (at that time, a married woman was considered the property of her husband, rather than a legal person). Many abolitionists had an interest in getting the vote for women, but their first duty was to ending slavery.