Admittedly I didn’t have much prior knowledge about the history of women’s suffrage. In history classes they spend a whole of five seconds on women’s suffrage and only listed the contributions of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. E Susan Barber’s “100 Years Towards Suffrage: An Overview” helped me piece together fragments of history that I’ve been taught about separately. KD Hall foundation’s YouTube video “Untold Stories of Black Women in the Suffrage Movement” taught me a different side of Ida B Wells’ contributions to Black liberation that is often ignored. I was also enlightened by the article “5 essential Black Figures in the Women’s Suffrage Movement” by Meghan Smith shared in Lyn Thomas’ Snapshot 6.

            The 100 year timeline put a lot of historical events in perspective for me. In school they teach history in sections in vaguely chronological order. What would’ve been better is if they taught us that many historical atrocities and movements occurred simultaneously. The timeline starts in the late 18^th century and ends in the early 20^th century; during this time the fight for the abolition of slavery and the fight for women’s rights overlapped. During this timeline Sojourner Truth was enslaved, escaped slavery, advocated for the abolition of slavery, advocated for Black civil rights, and advocated for women’s rights. Some white suffragists were also abolitionists. K-12 education only gave me timelines of one specific topic in history what I need was to see different topics of historical events on one timeline.

            Speaking of K-12 education, in school Ida B Wells was only presented to me as a journalist who exposed the horrific lynchings of Black people NEVER as a feminist. That part of her activism was completely erased. “Untold Stories of Black Women in the Suffrage Movement” taught me about the Alpha Suffrage Club that was founded by Ida B Well, it taught me about her marching in the front of the women’s march despite white suffragists deciding that Black women should march in the back. It taught me about the National Association of Colored Women. They don’t teach this during Black History Month, the majority of Black History that is taught centers Black males. It was refreshing to learn about the contributions of Black women for the liberation of Black women.

            I particularly liked the article linked in Lyn’s Snapshot 6 because it talks about prominent Black figures in the Women’s Suffrage Movement and adds a layer of information that is very important to highlight, the divide between Black men and women. The article states that “[Sojourner Truth] split with abolitionist Frederick Douglass when he advocated for Black men’s suffrage before women; she thought the rights could be embraced at the same time”. It’s very disappointing to know that Black men were behaving in a patriarchal manner and excluded Black women from the fight for voting rights. Truth was right, both issues could be advocated for simultaneously, in fact it’s more beneficial for the Black race to have more voting members. It simply didn’t make any sense to fight for the Black man’s right to vote instead of the collective right for all Black people to vote.

The Women’s Suffrage Movement had such a complicated history. I’m glad we were able to achieve suffrage for all eventually but its disappointing to see that the cause was so divided. The lessons here are that history should be taught as a collective of events rather than sections of events; history should be more inclusive of women, especially Black women; it is not only possible but necessary for liberation movements to be intersectional. In the grand scheme of things, there is only one fight: the fight for equality, across the board.

Being able to vote is power and the fact that women weren’t able to vote while men could shows just how much women are at a disadvantage. This didn’t sit right with women which led to the Women’s Suffrage Movement in which they demanded the right to vote. As much as women back then fought to be heard it took them nearly 100 years to finally reach their goal of being able to vote. This means years of protesting and nonstop work to prove that they are just as equal. The fact that they had to convince men that they were worthy of a voice shows just how low they think of them. Ida B Wells played a huge part in this movement for she was the first to form a suffrage group in chicago with the intention of bringing about both women and men voters. This inspired other black reformers to make their own group until the National Association Of Colored Women was found. In servrine snapshot it shows women protesting on the sidewalk asking president Wilson how long they have to wait. Protesting to the president directly was a good way of getting their point across because he is responsible for them not being able to vote. This snapshot made me realize how women were able to come together to fight for one cause, which is commendable. 

The fact that Ida was able to be such a great leader while she lost both her parents and brother not to mention being borned into slavery is remarkable. Not having any family in your corner to go home to or to even be there for you must’ve been tough especially during such a hard time. Then again I can’t help but think this was her motivation to keep going and to keep fighting. She already lost almost all her loved ones, losing another battle would’ve been too much to bear. Especially when she has so many people looking up to her. Watching the video “Untold Stories of Black Women in the suffrage movement” showed me how important voting is. I always knew it was but this made me see it in a different light. There’s a lot of power in voting, in knowing that you have a voice that can make a difference. Seeing how much women wanted the right to vote and seeing what they had to go through to get it made me much more appreciative and made me realize the power my voice has. This can make the difference between picking a good or bad leader to represent me and do right by the people. The Women’s Suffrage movement gave women the chance to get through to people that might have opposed them being able to vote. It still amazes me that it took 72 years for them to be heard or even acknowledged. This took dedication and commitment to constantly fight for something and barely see any progress. In the end everything paid off because this movement was successful and women were given the right to vote.