Women, Race, and Class: Racism in the Woman Suffrage Movement

Introduction

• Written by Angela Y. Davis
• Discusses the intersection of race and gender in the suffrage movement

Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Views

• Stanton's 1865 letter to the New York Standard exhibits racist ideas
  • Advocates for white women's suffrage over Black men's rights
  • Suggests reluctance to support Black men if it means white women lag behind
• Reflects superficial understanding of Black Liberation and women's rights

Equal Rights Association

• Proposed merging women's suffrage with Black suffrage
• 1866 Women’s Rights Convention established Equal Rights Association
  • Aimed at incorporating struggles for both Black and women’s suffrage
  • Susan B. Anthony promoted a Human Rights platform
• Racism persisted in arguments, e.g., Henry Ward Beecher emphasized white women's claims for suffrage over Blacks and immigrants

Ideological Conflicts

• Stanton echoed Beecher’s views, prioritizing white women’s suffrage over Black men’s
• Debate centered on Black men’s impending enfranchisement post-Civil War
  • Some feminists opposed it unless women were also granted the vote
  • Abby Kelly Foster highlighted the injustice of postponing Black male suffrage

Republican Party Politics

• Post-Civil War, suffrage for Black men was prioritized to secure Republican votes
  • Not necessarily an endorsement of Black male superiority
  • Political strategy to maintain party hegemony in the South
• Stanton and Anthony felt betrayed when woman suffrage was not supported post-war

The Fifteenth Amendment

• Proposed to prohibit racial discrimination in voting
• Caused friction within the Equal Rights Association
  • Led to the dissolution of ERA and formation of separate suffrage organizations

Frederick Douglass's Position

• Advocated for Black suffrage as an urgent need for survival and progress
  • Emphasized the violence and threats faced by Blacks in the South
  • Criticized for placing strategic priority on Black suffrage over women’s
• Supported the Fifteenth Amendment
  • Argued it was part of the broader struggle for universal suffrage

Reactions within the ERA

• Sojourner Truth and Frances E. W. Harper supported Douglass's position
  • Truth argued against racist ideologies within the feminist movement
  • Harper prioritized racial issues over gender in the context of the time

Conclusion

• The dissolution of the ERA ended potential alliances between Black and women’s rights
• Feminist leaders sometimes aligned with racist elements due to political expediency
  • E.g., Collaboration with George Francis Train
• Douglass remains a key figure in advocating for both Black and women’s rights despite occasional sexist remarks
• The controversy highlighted the complex interplay of race, gender, and politics in the fight for suffrage.