Racial Prejudice in the U.S. Women’s Suffrage Movement
Below are contemporary articles based on historical research into the work of Black suffragists as well as white suffragists' exclusion of Black women from some suffrage events and associations.
How Black Suffragists Fought for the Right to Vote and a Modicum of Respect: Hallie Quinn Brown and Other "Homespun Heroines"
By Martha S. Jones
HUMANITIES, Summer 2019, Volume 40, Number 3
An introduction to the work of Hallie Quinn Brown and the alternative routes African American women had to take in their pursuit of equal rights.
Votes for Women means Votes for Black Women
By Ama Ansah
National Women’s History Museum AUGUST 16, 2018
Based in a variety of primary and secondary sources, included in a bibliography at the end of the article, this piece emphasizes the exclusion of black women from suffrage demonstrations and photographic records. Ansah explains the attempts of black suffragists to work with major suffrage associations despite the racism of prominent white suffragists, and includes quotes from WEB DuBois condemning racism within the suffrage movement.
Series: Suffrage in America: The 15th and 19th Amendments
Essay #4: Between Two Worlds: Black Women and the Fight for Voting Rights
National Parks Service, Updated June 2019
This article provides an excellent overview of the challenges faced by, and unique tactics adopted by, black suffragists due to their exclusion from - and public ridicule by - the mainstream white movement.
African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement
Edited by Edith Mayo
The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial
A good starting point for research into black suffragists’ work, “This listing of African American Women Leaders in the American Woman Suffrage Movement is taken from the works of Dr. Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, former Professor of History and Coordinator of Graduate Programs in History at Morgan State University in Baltimore.”
Winning the Vote: A divided movement brought about the Nineteenth Amendment
By Lisa Tetrault
HUMANITIES, Summer 2019, Volume 40, Number 3
An overview of advancing voter rights in the U.S. beginning with passage of the 15th Amendment, racial divides which caused suffragists to part from the AERA, opposing views/efforts of the NWSA and AWSA, and progression from state legislation to federal passage of the 19th Amendment.
The Root: How Racism Tainted Women's Suffrage
By Monee Fields-White
NPR March 25, 2011 8:54 AM ET
Focused on Ida B. Wells’ work to stop lynching and gain voter rights for African Americans, this article touches on women’s involvement with the Temperance Movement as a precursor to their suffrage activism and the role of trans-Atlantic communications in spreading civil rights ideals - especially on behalf of PoC - when many U.S. residents turned a blind eye to racial violence.
By Martha S. Jones
HUMANITIES, Summer 2019, Volume 40, Number 3
An introduction to the work of Hallie Quinn Brown and the alternative routes African American women had to take in their pursuit of equal rights.
Votes for Women means Votes for Black Women
By Ama Ansah
National Women’s History Museum AUGUST 16, 2018
Based in a variety of primary and secondary sources, included in a bibliography at the end of the article, this piece emphasizes the exclusion of black women from suffrage demonstrations and photographic records. Ansah explains the attempts of black suffragists to work with major suffrage associations despite the racism of prominent white suffragists, and includes quotes from WEB DuBois condemning racism within the suffrage movement.
Series: Suffrage in America: The 15th and 19th Amendments
Essay #4: Between Two Worlds: Black Women and the Fight for Voting Rights
National Parks Service, Updated June 2019
This article provides an excellent overview of the challenges faced by, and unique tactics adopted by, black suffragists due to their exclusion from - and public ridicule by - the mainstream white movement.
African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement
Edited by Edith Mayo
The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial
A good starting point for research into black suffragists’ work, “This listing of African American Women Leaders in the American Woman Suffrage Movement is taken from the works of Dr. Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, former Professor of History and Coordinator of Graduate Programs in History at Morgan State University in Baltimore.”
Winning the Vote: A divided movement brought about the Nineteenth Amendment
By Lisa Tetrault
HUMANITIES, Summer 2019, Volume 40, Number 3
An overview of advancing voter rights in the U.S. beginning with passage of the 15th Amendment, racial divides which caused suffragists to part from the AERA, opposing views/efforts of the NWSA and AWSA, and progression from state legislation to federal passage of the 19th Amendment.
The Root: How Racism Tainted Women's Suffrage
By Monee Fields-White
NPR March 25, 2011 8:54 AM ET
Focused on Ida B. Wells’ work to stop lynching and gain voter rights for African Americans, this article touches on women’s involvement with the Temperance Movement as a precursor to their suffrage activism and the role of trans-Atlantic communications in spreading civil rights ideals - especially on behalf of PoC - when many U.S. residents turned a blind eye to racial violence.