The Women's Movement in Black and White: Progress or Work to be Done?

I thought I would share a piece of the women’s movement history that is often not told or passed on to our daughters especially our daughters of color. History textbooks are notorious for leaving out important pieces of history in my opinion because the “truth” is much too painful to face. As we celebrate women’s history month let us not forget the struggles and triumphs of all women and ponder the question of “have we made progress or is there much more work to be done?” When I refer to “work” I mean the work of inclusivity and equality for all women to include the unique life and career situations that many women of color still face today. I think we often make a dramatic comparison between then and now and immediately rush to the conclusion that we have made great progress, I would dare to say that some women have made great progress in achieving equality while others still lag behind.

I believe to make true and lasting progress the issue of “Double Jeopardy” for women of color must be discussed, explored and social, personal and political interventions must consistently occur. Below I share with you a few bullet points outlining the women’s movement and the beginnings of the movement for women of color in the United States. While this information stems from a black woman’s perspective I can confidently say that the same issues were and are faced by Latina, Asian, Native American and other women of color.

I provide this snapshot of “our” history as a reminder of the work that needs to be done. Double Jeopardy still exists socially and professionally for women of color. Women of color are faced with the reality that they must fight two fights – one of gender and race. In the workplace they are often burdened with the task of diciphering not only gender discrimination but racial oppression as well. When women can come together and fight for race and gender equality we can then say that we have made progress. As you read the bullets below keep an open mind about your history and the history of the women who came before you and how they either fought against or perpetuated our legacy of racism and sexism.

It is not too late for this battle to be won. It will take honesty, candid and compassionate dialogue and the unheard voices must speak, their stories must be told and heard. I encourage you to share your thoughts on this post and think of how you can begin within your inner circle the “real” work to be done to achieve equality for all women.

• First wave feminism grew from women activists’ involvement in nineteenth century movements such as the anti-slavery movement.
• The 15th Amendment was passed which outlawed discrimination in voting on the basis of race, woman’s movement activists rallied around such campaigns to secure woman suffrage.
• By 1923, three years after passage of the “universal suffrage” 19th Amendment, some suffragists – National Women’s Party leader Alice Paul, for instance – began pushing for an Equal Rights Amendment to outlaw all forms of discrimination based on sex, an ultimately unsuccessful campaign that lasted until 1983.
• After 1851, Stanton worked in close partnership with Susan B. Anthony. Stanton often served as the writer and Anthony as the strategist in this effective working relationship.
• After the Civil War, Stanton and Anthony were among those who were determined to focus on female suffrage when only voting rights of freed males were addressed in Reconstruction.
• In May 1869, they formed a group called the National Women’s Suffrage Association. By 1870, the worst fears of the NWSA had been confirmed: the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed, granting the right to vote to Black men, with no mention of women.

The movement weakened during and after the Civil War and the issue of black suffrage collided with woman suffrage, and tactical differences divided the leadership.

• Many suffragists believed that once the war was won and Black slaves became citizens with full rights, both Black and white women would be given full suffrage as well.
• When the war ended, many national leaders continued to argue against giving women the vote. Many suffragists regarded this as a betrayal, and they reacted with bitter disappointment.
• The different priorities concerning votes for women and votes for Black men led to a split within the movement.
• The women’s rights movement splits into two factions as a result of disagreements over the 14th & 15th Amendments.
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the more radical, New York-based National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA).
• By 1890, the two U. S. women’s suffrage organizations merged. National American Women’s Suffrage Association and National Women’s Suffrage Association.
• NAWSA also upheld the racist ideology of the era as it excluded black women from membership, it garnered significant support from southern women by asserting that the white woman’s vote would maintain white supremacy in the South.
• While suffrage did not produce the immediate results hoped for by its supporters nor did it include minority women, it did lay the groundwork for future women to seek out a life of independence and public activity.
• (1870) The Fifteenth Amendment enfranchises black men. NWSA refuses to work for its ratification, arguing, instead, that it be “scrapped” in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment providing universal suffrage. Due to being excluded from NAWSA, black women, such as Mary Church Terrell, formed their own organization to further suffrage in 1896, the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).
• Racist policies often kept African-American women out of the suffragist movement. The headquarters of Colored Women Voters, located in Georgia, was one of many early 20th-century organizations that fought for African-American suffrage.
• The 15th Amendment guaranteed all citizens the right to vote, regardless of their race.
• Douglass’s push for state approval of the amendment caused a breach between him and the woman suffragists, who were upset that the measure did not include voting rights for woman. Old friends such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton accused Douglass of abandoning the cause of women’s rights. Douglass tried to persuade the woman suffragists that voting rights for blacks must be won immediately, while women could afford to wait. “When women because they are women are dragged from their homes and hung upon lampposts… then they will have the urgency to obtain the ballot,” said Douglass.
• One of the women in the crowd cried out, “Is that not also true about black women?” “Yes, yes,” Douglass replied, “but not because she is a woman but because she is black.”
• The women in the audience were not convinced, and some of them even spoke out against black suffrage.
• Douglass’s relationship with the woman suffragists eventually healed, but women would not receive the right to vote until 1920.

(1896) Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Margaret Murray Washington, Fanny Jackson Coppin, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Charlotte Forten Grimké, and former slave Harriet Tubman meet in Washington, D.C. to form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).

• Women and girls today are living the legacy of women’s rights that seven generations of women before us have given their best to achieve.
• Women, acting together, adding their small stones to the grand mosaic, have increased their rights against all odds, nonviolently, from an initial position of powerlessness.
• We have a lot to be proud of in this heroic legacy, and a great deal to celebrate related to founding of the Women’s Rights Movement.
• It is critical that white women honestly explore white women’s “history of relationships” with black women. This is necessary if there is going to be hope for black women that genuine relationships with white women are possible.
• There MUST be a new movement fueled by a genuine understanding and disgust of the current conditions of black women and their children.

Will you honestly explore your personal and professional relationships with black women? Are you open to having the candidly compassionate dialogue so necessary? For more thoughts on this issue refer to an earlier post titled “Women of Color and the Identity Dance” and “Race Does Matter.”

By Catrice Jackson