3 minute read
The Forgotten Black Women Behind the 19th Amendment
HOW FIVE SUFFRAGETTES SUBVERTED NORMS TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR THE CAUSE
Written by Lila Price, Contributing Writer
When the 19th Amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920, suffragettes around America celebrated a pivotal moment in the multigenerational fight to vote. But while the amendment declared that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” it said nothing about race. Despite the vital work Black women contributed to the suffragette movement, their legacies are often overlooked in history books. Here are five of the Black suffragettes who played a vital role in the fearless fight for women’s rights.
Sojourner Truth: Truth gave her passionate “Ain’t I a Woman” speech at the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Truth’s speech called attention to the ways she and her female counterparts were not treated equally despite performing the same actions as men, like working in the fields as a slave.1
Mary Ann Shadd Cary: Cary joined the fight as the first Black woman in America to publish a newspaper when she founded The Provincial Freeman in 1883. Within the suffragist movement, Cary used her legal knowledge to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about why Black women should have the right to vote.2
Mary Church Terrell: The National American Women Suffrage Associa-
¹ Rachel Chang, “Sojourner Truth’s ‘Ain’t I a Woman’ Speech May Not Have Contained That Famous Phrase,” Biography, Aug. 17, 2020. ² Megan Bailey, “Between Two Worlds: Black Women and the Fight for Voting Rights,” National Parks Service, Oct. 9, 2020.
tion in 1913 banned Black women from participating in their parades and protests, claiming that they did not want their fight for the right to vote to be clouded by the issue of racism. Black women were forced to forge their own path and subvert from the rest of America’s agenda, leading to Terrell’s creation of the National Association of Colored Women, where Black women could discuss and fight against issues in a space that didn’t exclude them based on race.
Jarena Lee: Lee was likely the first Black female preacher in the nation. Lee fought to expand the role of women within the church by holding prayer meetings in her house and eventually began traveling throughout the nation as a representative of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A major breakthrough moment for Lee and Black female preachers was when Lee spontaneously preached in Bethel without retribution.3
³ Jeronia Mcclish et al., “African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church,” Social Welfare History Ida B. Wells: Wells created and owned The Memphis Free Speech and Headlight and Free Speech newspapers. Despite passing away in 1931, Wells set up the groundwork for success by creating the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago in 1913, which organized women to elect candidates who would fight for the Black community.4
Today, Black feminist authors Angela Davis and Toni Morrison are read by millions and Black women are celebrated in exhibits like Brooklyn Museum’s “We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-1985.” But 100 years later, the fight against voter rights suppression reminds us more than ever to honor the crucial role Black suffragettes have played since the start of the movement. ■
Project, Aug. 12, 2020. ⁴ Lakshmi Gandhi, “5 Black Suffragists Who Fought for the 19th Amendment-and Much More,” History, Aug. 4, 2020.
