A Fundamental Component: Suffrage for African American Women

Susan Goodier, History Lecturer, SUNY Oneonta, will speak about her new work on African-American women in the New York suffrage movement. The right to vote held particular meaning for black women, who adamantly supported the right for black men. Many black men, however, did not necessarily support women’s right to vote. Because racism and classism worked against black women’s involvement in white woman suffrage organizations, much of their suffrage-related activism took place as a fundamental component of their work in numerous local and national clubs. Nevertheless, most studies that address black women’s suffrage work do so through the lens of white women’s activism. This project highlights the vitality and meaning of black women’s suffrage activism across the state on its own merit.