In 1920, the U.S. Senate passed the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. Black women would wait nearly 50 years later to vote. 

Some black women suffrages who paved the Path to the Ballot Box.

Racist policies often kept black women out of the suffragist movement led by white women. The headquarters of Colored Women Voters, located in Georgia, was one of many early 20th-century organizations that fought for African-American suffrage.

The National Association of Colored Women‘s Clubs Inc was established in 1896 as a merger between the National League of Colored Women and the National Federation of Afro-American Women. Thus functioning as a umbrella group for local and regional black women’s organizations.

Sojourner Truth wasn't just a voice for abolition, she was a powerful advocate for women's rights as well.Her iconic "Ain't I a Woman?" speech directly confronted the exclusion of Black women from suffrage, highlighting the hypocrisy of arguments used to deny them the vote.

By connecting the struggles of enslaved people and women, Truth saw both groups as deserving of equal rights,including voting rights. Her courage and activism inspired other women and broadened the suffrage movement, raising awareness and demanding equality for all women.

Harriet Tubman was a staunch supporter of women’s suffrage, giving speeches about her experiences as an enslaved woman at various anti-slavery conventions, out of which the voting rights movement emerged.

Ida B. Wells was one of our nation’s foremost critics of racial injustice through her journalistic and philanthropic endeavors. She co-founded the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago in 1913 to educate Black women on how to cultivate Black candidates and ensure their votes.

She also marched in the 1913 woman’s parade in Washington, D.C., which would come to be regarded as a milestone in the history of the 19th Amendment.

Daisy Lampkin was instrumental for women's voting rights.She was president of Negro Women's Franchise League in 1915 and an active organizer with NAACP & National Association of Colored Women. She promoted interest in suffrage among Black women in Pittsburgh.

Mary Church Terrell was a pioneering figure in the fight for racial equality and women's suffrage. She was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree, earning both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Her life's work focused on the idea of racial uplift.

Dr. Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was one of North Carolina's early, outspoken Black woman suffragists. She advocated for civil rights for Black Americans, and her 1892 book, "A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South," is considered the first Black feminist publication.

Dr. Cooper made contributions to social science fields, particularly in sociology. She is sometimes called "The Mother Of Black Feminism