The Abolitionists and African American Suffragists

Where the Movement Began

The Suffrage Movement is rooted in the Abolitionist Movement, which began to advocate for the rights of women as well.  Pioneering activists such as Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas overcame tremendous adversity – including discrimination from fellow suffragists – to help win the vote.

To learn more about these visionary heroes, please click on the links below:

Frances E. W. Harper

Contemporary poet, D. A. Powell, reads and comments on Bury Me in a Free Land, one of the most poignant poems written by poet and abolitionist Frances Harper for the The Anti-Slavery Bugle newspaper in 1858. READ MORE +

Mary Church Terrell

Noted historian C. R. Gibbs and author Joan Quigley paint a vivid portrait of this fervent advocate for racial equality, women’s suffrage and civil rights in Robin Hamilton’s documentary: the Dignity and Defiance: A Portrait of Mary Church Terrell. READ MORE +

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

Read the definitive biography of the most important African American of the nineteenth century: Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave who became the greatest orator of his day and one of the leading abolitionists and writers of the era.   READ MORE +

Winning The Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement

Learn how women have long been active participants in U.S. history, and how many became politically powerful before winning the vote. READ MORE +