“White women were more concerned with having the same power as their husbands, while black women saw the vote as a means to improving their conditions. She participated in numerous conferences, including Woman Suffrage Congress in 1893, where she delivered formidable speeches focusing on racial and gender equality and education. Even as she grew older, she continued to speak publicly on abolitionist issues and also arranged lectures for other prominent speakers. She remained politically active well into her 90s. Members of such women's organizations were referred to as suffragettes.

African-American women suffragists dealt with the political concerns of white suffragists who were aware that they needed the support of  Southern legislators both on the state and federal levels. Gertrude Bustill Mossell was a journalist, author, teacher, activist, and suffragist. The women’s suffrage movement in the United States led to the establishment of the legal right for women to vote nationally when the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920. Share your stories on social media using #FindmypastFeatured. Emily Davison was an English suffragette who belonged to the WSPU. She was a founder and member of the interracial Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, many of whose members became active in the women’s rights movement. In fact, she often disguised herself as Jane Warton, an 'ugly London seamstress', to avoid any benefits her family connections might bring. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper combined her talents as a writer, poet, and public speaker with a deep commitment to abolition and social reform. Some scholars argue that, in fact, ‘racist attitudes provided additional impetus” for Black women’s struggle. Eventually, Christabel moved to the United States, and died in her home in California at the age of 77. The right of women to vote in public elections is referred to as women's suffrage. Dublin born and bred, he’s traced six generations of his family to the Irish capital including his great-grandfather whose storied life saw him rise from workhouse inmate to decorated war hero. Educated at Wellesley College, Grimke’s literary works exposed her ideas about the pain and violence in black women’s lives, and her rejection of the double standards imposed on women. Her parents taught her much about fighting for equality and often provided shelter for fugitive slaves. Discouraged by the split in the women's suffrage movement after the Civil War, she left the United States, becoming an expatriate in Florence, Italy, in 1866, where she studied medicine. She was an avid supporter of progressive causes both before and after the American Civil War, including prohibition and women’s suffrage. While in prison, Davison attempted suicide by throwing herself over a prison balcony, resulting in two cracked vertebrate that caused pain for the rest of her life. ", Voting Rights:'Overwhelm the system' to thwart voter suppression, Stacey Abrams counsels blacks, Books:10 must-read Black History Month recommendations: Zora Neale Hurston, Kiley Reid and more, Black History:In a world full of African American Democrats, black Republicans stand alone.

Charlotte Forten Grimké  was an abolitionist and diarist who grew up in a prominent and abolitionist family of color in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Niall Cullen.

She contributed much to the formation of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1896. In 1890, the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). ","spans":[]}]},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.14":{"type":"text","label":null,"primary":{"type":"id","generated":true,"id":"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.14.primary","typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyText"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.14.primary":{"text":{"type":"json","json":[{"type":"heading2","text":"Emily Davison","spans":[]}]},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.15":{"type":"text","label":null,"primary":{"type":"id","generated":true,"id":"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.15.primary","typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyText"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.15.primary":{"text":{"type":"json","json":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"Renowned for giving her life for the suffrage movement, Emily Wilding Davison was fatally wounded when she stepped in front of the King's horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby. She and her husband had no children, and following his death at sea, Despard became active in charitable work. ","spans":[]}]},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.26":{"type":"text","label":null,"primary":{"type":"id","generated":true,"id":"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.26.primary","typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyText"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.26.primary":{"text":{"type":"json","json":[{"type":"heading2","text":"Sylvia Pankhurst","spans":[]}]},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.27":{"type":"text","label":null,"primary":{"type":"id","generated":true,"id":"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.27.primary","typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyText"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.27.primary":{"text":{"type":"json","json":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"Another of Emmeline's daughters, Sylvia took a different stance to her mother's and sister's. Skyler Isabella Gomez is a 2019 SUNY New Paltz graduate with a degree in Public Relations and a minor in Black Studies. Edited by Edith Mayo. In 1871, Cary unsuccessfully tried to vote in Washington,  but she and 63 other women prevailed upon officials to sign affidavits attesting that women had tried to vote. Literary Ladies Guide to the Writing Life She played a prominent role in ensuring Winston Churchill was defeated in a Manchester by-election in 1908 and went on to be a leading figure in the Irish rebellion of 1916. She worked alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to testify before the House Judiciary Committee and founded the Colored Women’s Progressive Franchise in 1880 to push for equal rights for women.

African-American women rarely separated the quest for the vote from the other activism in which they engaged. Poems from the Project 19 Initiative Launched in February 2020, Project 19 is the single largest women-only commissioning initiative in history.As part of the project, the Academy of American Poets has partnered with the New York Philharmonic to commission nineteen new poems by award-winning poets Elizabeth Alexander, Ellen Bass, Marilyn Chin, Natalie Diaz, Rita Dove, Joy … In Battle Creek, Michigan, Sojourner Truth demanded a ballot and was turned away. Illinois was the first state east of the Mississippi River to give women these rights. She was extremely brave and held steadfast to her convictions despite being criticized, ostracized and marginalized by her contemporaries.”. ","spans":[{"start":162,"end":179,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/discoveries/winston-churchill-life-in-records-darkest-hour-2018-history"}}]}]},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.38":{"type":"text","label":null,"primary":{"type":"id","generated":true,"id":"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.38.primary","typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyTextPrimary"},"__typename":"PrismicBlog_articleBodyText"},"$ROOT_QUERY.prismic_blog_article({\"lang\":\"en-gb\",\"uid\":\"famous-suffragettes\"}).body.38.primary":{"text":{"type":"json","json":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"Markievicz blazed a trail for women in politics. She played a prominent role in ensuring Winston Churchill was defeated in a Manchester by-election in 1908 and went on to be a leading figure in the Irish rebellion of 1916. During the 1850s, she was a leader and spokesperson among the African American refugees who fled to Canada after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. She died in Annapolis, Maryland, on July 24, 1954, at the age of 90. Fawcett’s elder sister, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, was Britain’s first female doctor, and Millicent was simply following in her sister’s footsteps.

Davison's death, which was the result of fracture of the base of her skul, was ruled as a case of "misadventure.". The most famous American suffragist during her lifetime and even today, Susan B. Anthony was an activist, advocate and organizer for abolition, temperance, women’s rights, and particularly women’s suffrage. The leader of the suffragettes in Britain, Pankhurst is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in modern British history. ","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/findmypast-titan/88003ec9-6f8a-4809-82c1-3bb6dd2d23ac_indentured-servitude.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=214,0,3206,1536&w=1200&h=575","landing_page":{"dimensions":{"width":550,"height":475},"alt":"What's the difference between indentured servants and slaves?