The Black Feminist Movement

We the (Black) People

Happy Women's History Month!

When the history of feminism in America is told, it is usually remembered as a White womens' struggle beginning at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and ending with the 19th amendment in 1920. What this history misses is the separate struggle Black women faced at the intersection of race and sex.

That history is the subject of this episode and Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All written by my guest Dr. Martha S. Jones (another super cool guest that you can learn more about here).

There were no Black women at Seneca Falls, but earlier that same year, Black women were at the AME church's general conference petitioning for the right to preaching licenses. Yet, our conversation goes back farther to Jarena Lee, a Black woman whose preaching career began in the early 1800s. It was this sexism within their own communities and the racism they faced from White suffragists that drove them to form their own movement.

After the Civil War, they formed national clubs to fight against lynching and for the vote. And that struggle continued after the 19th amendment because Black women faced the same restrictions and violence that already kept Black men from the polls in many states.

It took 45 more years of political, legal, and civil rights struggle to get to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Along the way, Black women were lawyers, strategists, federal appointees, and (where possible) voters. Three Black women even feature prominently in the photo of the Voting Rights Act being signed (see here).

We conclude with a look at what Black women are doing in politics right now both in and around government.

Black women fought for equality, dignity, and political power in a long struggle full of women whose names are known by too few. These are some of their stories.

Further Reading: [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha Jones (https://amzn.to/3qFd5iI)

Music Credit

PeaceLoveSoul by Jeris (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/35859 Ft: KungFu (KungFuFrijters)