The Erasure of BIPOC

The Erasure of BIPOC in Feminism

The names “Susan B. Anthony” and “Elizabeth Cady Stanton” have been reiterated time and time again during Women’s History Month in March, and while these women have played a major role in the suffrage movement, their activism is tainted by a long record of racism that people today are increasingly becoming more aware of. This historic exclusion of BIPOC women, especially black women, in feminism continues to have ramifications in the modern world, and this only becomes more prominent when March continues to honor these specific white suffrage activists. One memorable example happened in January 2017, when some black women opted out of participating in the Women’s March on Washington due to this historic (and even current) exclusion.

The voting records of white women only serve to fester this distrust, with around 53 percent of white women voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, compared to the 94 percent of black women who voted for Hillary Clinton. This lack of acknowledgment towards women of color rights and experiences has made many people “skeptical of efforts like the Women’s March.” “When you look at the history, there is a strain . . . When it came down between patriarchy and sisterhood, they chose patriarchy,” Women and Gender studies, Gwendolyn Pough, stated in an NBC News article. Referring to the statistics, Pough pointed out, “Somewhere there was a fail and not all women were in solidarity with that. We had been operating under the guise that there was unity and now we’ve been shown there isn’t so what do you do with that?”

Some black women are in the opposition, encouraging other black women to join the march despite this racist history.They believe that it’s important that women of color still attempt to make their voices heard. “How can we allow anyone to speak on the issues of women and not have women of color, particularly black women, involved? We should not allow ourselves to be an agenda item. We need to set the agenda.” Tamika D. Mallory, former executive director of the National Action Network, wrote.

The conversation around the current neglect towards intersectionality to the criticism soon pivoted back to white feminism

and the erasure of black women in the suffrage movement. People especially criticized the presence of Susan B. Antony in the feminist movement, considering the fact that she infamously stated, “I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for the Negro and not the woman.”

Some believe that the famous white feminists shouldn’t take up so much space during Women’s History Month and that women of color suffrage activists (especially black suffrage activists) should be highlighted more frequently. Others argued that people should view the white feminists within the context of their time, saying that women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton still contributed significantly to feminism.

Arguments will continue to mix and conflict, but at the end of the day, the fact remains that the suffrage movement has historically cut black women from their narrative and that the racial rift present today is a direct result of that. Black women being barred from attending the suffrage gathering in Seneca Falls in 1848 is only one significant example of many.

These tensions rose even higher than before historically when politicians started discussing the 15th Amendment, a provision that allows African Americans to vote. Viewing black men as lower than them, white feminists expressed outrage that politicians would consider giving them the right to vote first rather than giving it to white women. Stanton even went on a “Klan-like tirade against the amendment . . . [warning] that white woman would be degraded if [black] men preceded them into the franchise.”

Many also commonly insist that giving black men the right to vote was dangerous. “The safety of [white] women, of childhood, of the home, is menaced in a thousand localities,” the then national president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Frances E. Willard, had insisted, even though her parents were abolitionists.

Dissent surrounding this topic wedged a deeper racial divide, and it became clear that while white women advocated for the right to vote as a means to become more equal with men, black women advocated for the right to vote as a means of empowering the black community, especially during the slew of racist attacks that took place after the abolishment of slavery. Many white women expressed displeasure and hatred at the idea.

Despite this outrage, the 15th Amendment was obviously passed in the end. However, it was after this significant point that racis-

racism went from being a characteristic of the suffrage movement to becoming a tool used to advocate for white women’s voting rights as well.

The idea of black people voting caused fear in white citizens, which impacted the feminist movement. White feminists “used racism to appeal to white Southern legislators” and argued that giving white women the right to vote was an effective “way to maintain white, native-born supremacy since white women outnumbered African Americans and immigrants.”

White feminism also used the suffrage movement to suppress and sometimes even sabotage any discussion concerning racial issues. One notable example is the conflict between Ida B. Wells, a journalist and early civil rights pioneer who led the anti-lynching campaign in the 1890s, and Frances E. Willard, a popular suffrage figure mentioned earlier in this article. When Wells traveled to Great Britain to raise awareness about the violent lynching taking place in the United States, (“Our country remains silent on those continued outrages. It is to the religious and moral sentiment of Great Britain we turn.”) Willard alongside a few other women sought to harm her mission.

They were enraged by Wells’ successful speeches and interviews and made public statements regarding her as a result. In one London newspaper, in particular, Willard goes on to state that the “best people” she knew in the South had “told her black people were threatening the safety of white women and children.” Referencing voting rights and using the issues Wells raised awareness about, she continued, “It is not fair that a plantation Negro who can neither read or write should be entrusted with the ballot.” This encouraged U.S. publications to release issues slandering Ida B. Wells’s character, often calling her harsh names and claiming that she was forcing her “foul and slanderous outbursts” on Britain. dinner in Parliament; and before she headed home, helped Londoners establish the London Anti-Lynching Committee.” As shown, while many white feminists try to suppress black women’s voices, they aren’t always successful.

The same can be said about other black suffrage activists that were essentially erased from history. Even though the feminist movement was white-centered, the exclusion didn’t prevent women of color from advocating.

When black women were banned from attending the Convention on Seneca Falls, they gathered at the 1851 inclusive women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio. It was there that African American abolitionist and former slave, Sojourner Truth, delivered her famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?”

When numerous white suffrage activists retired after the 19th Amendment was passed, black suffrage activists continued fighting against voter suppression, an issue that emerged after both African American men and women were granted the right to vote. Some, such as Fannie Lou Hamer, worked hard to eliminate voting accessibility obstacles in their home state, and some worked on a more national level. It was thanks to both black suffrage activists and civil rights leaders that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, removing the barriers that prevented black people from being able to vote in the first place.

While the debates surrounding the ugly history of feminism will undoubtedly continue, it is still crucial that we acknowledge the white supremacist ideals that were a characteristic and a tool for white suffragists to gain voting rights because this history is key to understanding the systems in the U.S. today. We must focus on intersectionality in order to avoid hypocrisy and human rights neglect.

However, these media campaigns and suffrage activists didn’t stop Wells. “She lectured to audiences in London; was invited to dinners in

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