Universal Suffrage: Celebrating Black History Month and Women’s History Month, 2020 and 2021

The year 2020 marks the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) and the culmination of the women’s suffrage movement.  The year 2020 also marks the sesquicentennial of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) and the right of black men to the ballot after the Civil War. 

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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

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.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

February 14, 1818 — February 20, 1895

Abolitionist, activist, ambassador, editor, journalist, orator, publisher, and suffragist.

Frederick Douglass, a vociferous advocate of universal suffrage for all, participated in the Woman's Rights Convention held at Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848.

Frederick Douglass led the National Convention of Black Freemen in Cleveland, Ohio, which became the very first national convention to permit participation by women when Mrs. Sanford was given permission to address the participants.

1797 – November 26, 1883

Abolitionist, activist, orator, preacher, and suffragist.

Sojourner Truth delivers her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the

Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio, on May 29, 1851.  This landmark speech launched her career as an outspoken champion of woman’s rights.

“Women Rights Convention. Sojourner Truth.” Anti-Slavery Bugle, Salem, Ohio, June 21, 1851 reported by Marcus Robinson, p.160.

July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931

Activist, editor, journalist, orator, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader.

The National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) forbade the racial integration of state affiliates in the parade. African-American women were ordered to gather as one unit at the end of the procession. Ida B. Wells-Barnett refused to comply with the NAWSA demand, as delegates began marching down Pennsylvania Avenue; she quietly stepped out from the crowd of spectators and joined her white Illinois colleagues Virginia Brooks and Belle Squire in the march.

February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963

Activist, educator, editor, historian, journalist, novelist, sociologist, and philosopher.

Dr. Du Bois edited The Crisis, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) official magazine, from 1910 through 1934.  He published articles, essays, and editorials by leading proponents of woman’s suffrage.

A SUFFRAGE SYMPOSIUM

Essays by

Fanny Garrison Villard, Adella Hunt Logan, Mary Church Terrell, Martha Gruening, and Rosalie Jonas.

VOTES FOR WOMEN. A SYMPOSIUM

Essays by

By Rev. F. J. Grimke, Hon. Oscar De Priest, Benjamin Brawley, Bishop John Hurst, Hon. J. W. Johnson, Hon. R. H. Terrell, Dr. W. H. Crogman, C. W. Chesnutt, Hon. J. R. Lynch, L. M. Hershaw, Mrs. Paul Laurence Dunbar, Mrs. M. B. Talbert, Mrs. C. F. Cook, Mrs. C. W. Clifford, Dr. M. F. Waring, W. S. Braithewaite, Miss N. H. Burroughs, Miss M. E. Jackson, Mrs. J. St. P. Ruffin, Mrs. A. W. Hunton, Miss M. L. Baldwin, Miss A. H. Jones, Mrs. B. K. Bruce, Mrs. E. L. Davis, Mrs. M. C. Terrell and Mrs. L. A. Turner.