The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America is largely regarded as a great step towards the achievement of social justice and equality. However, this has not always been the case. There was a time when the fifteenth amendment was the root cause of the rift between the American Women Suffrage Association (AWSA) and the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA). The rift which resulted from racial discrimination made it hard for African-American women and men to participate in the women suffrage movement across the country which led to the formulation of excellent strategies to ensure their continued and constructive engagement. African-American women and men in New York believed in universal suffrage and despite racial discrimination, they overcame challenges to secure the voting rights of women through effective use of resources.
The abolition of slavery marked a significant development for the modern world. Modern civilization had come a long way from the Greco-Roman times where democracy was created and social justice invented. However, perhaps the world today as we know it derives a considerable amount of what we deem social norms from the traditions that were passed down from that time. For example, gender discrimination traces its roots to Ancient Greece. For a considerable amount of time, the notion that men are superior to women has endured. For example, religious books go as far as believing that the man is the head of the house denoting authority. This point of view is the reason why gender discrimination persisted for a while. The passing down of tradition which is largely a Roman way to preserve the culture and maintain the identity of a people meant that the superiority of men over women endured. This is perhaps even then, slavery was acceptable. The abolishment of slavery went against long-standing traditions which are now deemed social norms and it is perhaps the reason why people started to consider and expand on the possible reach of the term social justice and equality. Women no doubt started to realize that they play a crucial part in the society and would like to be accorded equal rights as her male counterpart. Women principally wanted the right to own property and the right to vote.
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Enlightenment due to education led to the understanding of the true meaning of democracy and the concept of equality. This led to the realization that just as slavery was morally wrong so is the discrimination of individuals based on their gender is wrong. The realization that they were deprived of their constitutional rights gave rise to the woman rights movement. One of the core objectives of the woman rights movement was suffrage (to secure for the women the right to vote and hold public office). The 14 th and 15 th amendments to the Constitution which granted African-American citizens suffrage on the account that no man of legal voting age should be denied the right to vote on the account of his race or former status as a slave also acted as a fuel for the women suffrage movement. The two amendments which added the word male and quoted race in the constitution provided a challenge for the women suffrage movement. The question was if the rights of men could be protected and even those of African-Americans, then why shouldn’t the rights of women and particularly suffrage not be possible?
The women suffrage movement however suffered a tremendous challenge particularly because of the 15 th amendment because it is believed to be the root cause of the rift that led to the formation of the two biggest women suffrage association 1 . The two biggest women suffrage groups the American Women Suffrage Association (AWSA) and the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA). The NWSA was opposed to the 15 th amendment and was comprised primarily of white women whereas AWSA which supported the 15 th amendment was an interracial group comprising mainly of African-American men and women. The group that was opposed to the 15 th amendment of the Constitution strongly believed that only one social injustice should and could be ratified at a time and thus were for the idea that if one socially oppressed group was going to be accorded the right to vote and it came down to white women or all women then they would advocate for the rights of white women first 2 , a concept the group maintained even after the split with AWSA. The AWSA and its members who were predominantly African-Americans did not look at the right for women to vote was a separate issue from the right for women of African-American descent. The AWSA believed strongly in universal suffrage and were opposed to the idea of discrimination by all standards. This is perhaps the reason why unlike NWSA, the AWSA comprised of members who were from both genders and virtually all races.
African-American men and women in New York and the country were generally affiliated with the AWSA. The alignment of African-American individuals with the AWSA despite the fact virtually similar objectives with NWSA is largely because of the limited participation they were accorded at the latter organization 3 . Founded and led by a Lucy Stone in 1869 in Boston, Massachusetts, the organization was synonymous with the publication of the Woman’s Journal as of 1870.The founder and leader of the AWSA is claimed to have been the first person to have moved the American public to consider the rights of women 4 . The NWSA which was founded and led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was predominantly white and therefore, in the hierarchy and the structure of the organization, African-Americans were not accorded much respect 5 . In fact, it is the racial discrimination that was shown to individuals of African-American descent that served as the root cause of the drift. However, the drift did not do much to alleviate discrimination against African-Americans. As a matter of fact, it probably worsened the situation. First, since the national women suffrage association which was the authoritative group representing and fighting for the rights of women suffrage specifically declared that in the event that the social injustice resulting from barring women from voting and holding public offices was not entirely fixable but that white woman could be accorded suffrage then they would accept that offer 6 . This is a view that was blatantly against the rights of African-American society and this is an outright depiction of racial discrimination. In addition to this, there were several occurrences that showedblatant racial discrimination.
The national women’s suffrage association’s racial stance was an inhibiting factor to the efforts of African-American men and women in the move to secure suffrage for all women. This led to the leadership of the organization to come up with measures that deterred the involvement of African-Americans involvement. These moves included such approaches as the deliberate use of photographs and other promotional material that did not depict any affiliation with African-Americans 7 . Additionally, the leadership of the NWSA was often keen to avoid associating its cause which was to secure suffrage for women with suffrage for African-Americans which was a pure depiction of racial discrimination. The involvement of African-Americans in protests and marches organized by the national women’s suffrage association was so controlled to the point that when they were included then they were either secluded and forced to march in accordance with their states or in other occasions and as it was often the case they were pushed to the back 8 . Generally, the participation of African-Americans was downplayed except for the mention of acclaimed figures such as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. Even after the formation of the American women’s suffrage association which was race-tolerant, African-Americans were still facing racial discrimination emanating from misinformation brought about by the national women’s suffrage association whose smear campaigns were spreading lies in a bid to rally more white female support for its own cause. Even after the rift between the two parties ended and they merged to form the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NASWA) in 1890 9 , the stance held by the NWSA were transferred to the new organization which led to even more marginalization of the African-Americans. This is because the leaders of the new association were the same leaders of the national women’s suffrage association meaning that the ideals they shared would be transferred too. In fact, Anna Howard Shaw who was once a president of NASWA went as far as to claim that “all Negroes were opposed to women suffrage” 10 . This is a claim that was rubbished by DuBois as barefaced falsehood. An avid champion for universal suffrage, DuBois is one of the African-Americans’ resources used to push their agenda for universal suffrage.
As an editor for NAACP’s The Crisis, DuBois successfully created a national platform to highlight the work of Black women suffragists. For example, the Crisis’ second suffrage symposium which was organized by DuBois was documented in a special issue of the magazine released in August 1915 11 whose primary focus was on Black women activism. In fact, that issue highlighted the works of Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin who is the pioneer of the Black Women’s Club and Mary Church Terrell who was the president of the National Association of Colored Women and went as far as put Sojourner Truth on the cover of the issue. This is arguably a strong message for universal suffrage given that Truth was an emancipated slave who was illiterate but an avid orator with strong views on women suffrage. Putting her at the cover was a true depiction of social equality regardless of class, race, or gender, the concepts that the 13 th , 14 th and 15 th amendments sought to protect. Dubois is no doubt perhaps the biggest champion of African-American suffrage as she is also responsible for the realization that the nemesis of every forward movement such as the women’s suffrage movement is the Negro Question 12 . It is through that question that perhaps a realization and acceptance of the racial discrimination that was evident in the fight for women’s right to vote arose from. This was a question at the core of the struggle for women’s right and social equality.
In addition to the use of The Crisis as a platform for the African-American women’s suffrage movement, several other methods were used. The most common method was public demonstrations and rallies. These approaches were deemed most ideal primarily because the question of whether women should be accorded the right to vote was a question that was meant to be posed to the citizens and in turn answered by them through their votes through their elected representatives. The approach employed by African-Americans much like that of their white counterparts involved means of audio-visual stimulation such as the use of buttons, posters, and public rallies. To encourage the participation of individuals, Susan Anthony conducted a house to house canvas seeking signatures from affluent and white women in New York to facilitate the women suffrage movement. This is another depiction of the blatant racial discrimination that occurred in the women’s suffrage movement.
Conclusion
African-Americans’ involvement in the women’s suffrage movement cannot be downplayed simply because the leaders of the dominant sects of the movement using racial discrimination tried to limit the involvement of African-Americans. The involvement in the cause is undeniable and it is through the ingenious use of resources which include individuals such as DuBois and Truth that helped to highlight the importance of women suffrage and in turn significantly boost the fight for social equality. Today that social equality and justice is a concept that is widely accepted, a special vote of thanks needs to be extended to African-Americans in New York for their involvement in the women’s suffrage movement.
Bibliography
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Crenshaw, Lorraine Abby . "The Solid South: The Suffrage Campaign Revisited." 2018.
DuBois, Ellen Carol. "Working women, class relations, and suffrage militance: Harriot Stanton Blatch and the New York woman suffrage movement, 1894-1909." The Journal of American History 74, no. 1 (1987): 34-58.
DuBois, W. E.B. "Forward Back: Forward." Crisis 2 (October 1911): 243-244.
Faulkner, Carol. "History, Mythology, and Power in the Women's Rights Movement." Reviews in American History 44, no. 1 (2016): 99-103.
McDaneld, Jen. "Harper, historiography, and the race/gender opposition in feminism." 40, no. 2 (2015): 393-415.
W.E.B, DuBois. "Votes for Women." 1915B. 178-192.
Watkins, V. "Votes for Women: Race, Gender, and WEB Du Bois’s Advocacy of Woman Suffrage. (1960-), 53." ( Phylon ) 53, no. 2 (2016): 3-19.
1 (Watkins 2016)
2 (Watkins 2016)
3 (Watkins 2016)
4 (Crenshaw 2018)
5 (Faulkner 2016)
6 (McDaneld 2015)
7 (Crenshaw 2018)
8 (Watkins 2016)
9 (Beaumont 2018)
10 (Watkins 2016)
11 (W.E.B 1915B)
12 (W. E. DuBois 1911)
