African American Women Research Paper

Southern woman suffrage became a beacon that would change the politics of the United States forever. Southern women had to grapple with their own racial politics to gain the support of African American women for women's suffrage (Gilmore, Gender and Jim Crow). African American women had taken the active role of teaching their community about American citizenship, and the pride of their race. African American women saw the women's suffrage as another step of pushing the racial divide (Goodstein, A Rare Alliance). While most white suffragists didn't see gaining the support of African American women the same way, white suffragists realized that they needed African American women to push for their own rights. White women turned to their peer leaders …show more content…
They were able to rely on their white supremacy familiarity, and Democrats were fearful of the enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment that would surely come with allowing women to vote (Gilmore, Gender and Jim Crow). In retaliation, women suffragists were able to debate with reason, bringing new ideas to the table that would cause voters to think, and with the support of the African American women, they were able to appeal to a much broader spectrum of voters (Gilmore). African American women's stance on the suffragist agenda "embraced both middle-class social values and a demand for basic social and political change", white suffragists also used this platform to appeal to voters (Goodstein, A Rare Alliance). While southern white suffragists only faced the dilemma of their agenda, African American suffragists faced a much bigger problem. African American women had to deal with the racism of the world that they lived in, and were under more social commitment than their white suffragist peers (Goodstein). African American suffragists had to handle the image within society that they were "immoral and irresponsible" and therefore should never be allowed to vote