African-American woman suffrage movement

As the women's suffrage movement gained popularity, American negro women were increasingly marginalized. Negro women dealt not only with the sexism of being withheld the vote but also the racism of white suffragists. The struggle for the vote did not end with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. In some Southern states, negro women were unable to freely exercise their right to vote up until the 1960s. However, these difficulties did not deter negro women in their effort to secure the vote.

Marginalizing negro women

In 1890, two rival organizations, the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association, merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). As NAWSA began gaining support for its cause, its members realized that the exclusion of negro women would gain greater support, resulting in the adoption of a more narrow view of women's suffrage than had been previously asserted. NAWSA focused on enfranchisement solely for white women. Negro women began experiencing the "Anti-Black" women's suffrage movement. The National Woman Suffrage Association considered the Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs to be a liability to the association due to Southern white women's attitudes toward black women getting the vote. Southern whites feared negroes gaining more political advantage and thus power; negro women voters would help to achieve this change.

The women's suffrage movement began with women such as Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, and it progressed to women like Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, Ella Baker, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, and many others. All of these women played very important roles, such as contributing to the growing progress and effort to end negro women's disenfranchisement. These women were discriminated against, abused, and raped by southerners and northerners, yet they remained strong and persistent, and that strength has been passed down from generation to generation. It is still carried on in African American families today. "African American women, have been political activists for their entire history on the American continent but long denied the right to vote and hold office, have resorted to nontraditional politics.

After her arrest in 1970, "Davis became a political prisoner. National and international protests to free Angela were mobilized around the world. During the two years that she spent in prison, Davis read, wrote essays on injustices, and prepared as co-counsel for her own defense. Eventually, Davis was released on bail in 1972 and later acquitted of all criminal charges at her jury trial."

The Creation of The National Association of Colored Women

The Women's Suffrage movement began in the north as a middle class white woman's movement. Most of their members were educated white women primarily from Boston, New York, Maine, and the Northeast. They were predominantly a middle class movement but attempts were made by the NWSA (National Women's Suffrage Association) to include working class women, as well as black suffragists. In 1848 the American Equal Rights Association was formed with the belief that everyone regardless of race or sex should be given the right to vote. During this time period a division was forming among the women's movement. The 14th Amendment was being proposed and black males were on the cusp of receiving the right to vote. The NSWA held a convention to discuss how to go forward and the women were divided on the issue. Some women didn't want to risk losing the chance for black males to get the right to vote, and figured that the women would get their turn. They saw this proposed amendment as a victory of sorts. Other women like Anthony and Stanton were angered by this decision and felt that this decision wasn't good enough, and that women black or white, should not be excluded from the vote. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment were eventually passed by Congress and women were still not granted the right to vote. As time went on the leaders of the National Women's Suffrage Association began to see Negro Suffrage and White Suffrage as different issues. The reasons for this change in ideals varies but in the 1890s younger women began to take the leadership roles and people like Stanton and Anthony were no longer in charge. Another reason for the change in ideals among the movement was the growing "white supremacy" thinking of women entering the movement from the south. Now with dissention and disagreement among the NWSA, African American women left and banded together to form their own organizations.

In June 1892 the Colored Women's League was founded in Washington D.C. Under their president Helen Cook the CWL fought for black suffrage and held night classes. A Boston area group under the leadership of Mrs. Booker T. Washington called the National Federation of African American Women joined the Colored Women's League out of Washington D.C. In 1896, both groups joined together to form the National Association of Colored Women under the leadership of Mrs. Mary Church Terrell. Mary Church Terrell was a college educated woman and was named the first president. This group did many things to contribute to the betterment of black women, as well as many other smaller groups who are not named.

The "Educated Suffragist"

The main push of NAWSA's movement was to marginalize as many negro women as possible. Through this effort developed the idea of the "educated suffragist." This was the notion that being educated was an important pre-requisite for being allowed the right to vote. Since many negro women were uneducated, this notion meant exclusion from the right to vote. This movement was prevalent in the South but eventually gained momentum in the North as well. Negro women were not deterred by the rising opposition and became even more aggressive in their campaign to find equality with men and other women. All the negro women who participated in this important struggle against their exclusion from the women's suffrage movement waited seventy years or more to see the fruits of their labour.

Issues in exercising the vote

Despite the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, negro women, particularly those inhabiting Southern states, still faced a number of issues. At first, negro women in the North were easily able to register to vote, and quite a few became actively involved in politics. One such woman was Annie Simms Banks who was chosen to serve as a delegate to Kentucky’s Republican Party in March 1920. White southerners took notice of negro female activists organizing themselves for suffrage, and after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, negro women's voter registration in Florida was higher than white women's. Because of white people's fears about them wielding political power, negro women found themselves targeted by a number of disenfranchisement methods. These included having to wait in line for up to twelve hours to register to vote, pay head taxes, and undergo new tests. One of the new tests required that negro women read and interpret the Constitution before being deemed eligible to vote. In the South, negro women faced even more severe obstacles to voting. These obstacles included bodily harm and fabricated charges designed to land them in jail if they attempted to vote. This treatment of negro women in the South continued up until the 1960s.

See also

Biographical links

• Sojourner Truth
• Ida B. Wells
• Mary Church Terrell

Historical links

• Ain't I a Woman?
• National Association of Colored Women