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For the 4th year in a row, the Transformative Justice Coalition and the Voting Rights Alliance, in honor of Black History Month, are publishing a daily special series devoted to sharing the legacies and stories of the sheroes, heroes, and events in the fight for Black suffrage. This series incorporates social media posts; daily newsletters; an interactive calendar; and, website blog posts to spread the word broadly. In addition to 10 NEW articles this year, the series is starting off its first 7 days with stories of Black women involved in the Women's Suffrage Movement in honor of the 100th Year Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, even to though many African American women were not able to vote until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
We encourage everyone to share this series to your networks and on social media under the hashtag #VRABlackHistory. You can also tweet us
@VRAmatters
to share your own facts. Others can sign up for the daily articles at
VotingRightsAlliance.org
.
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Reporting by:
Caitlyn Cobb
.
All sources are cited throughout the article with a complete reference list at the bottom of the page.
Introduction: The Erasure of Anna A. Clemons and Black Women
When we think of 1920, we think of the 19
th
Amendment, and the Women’s Suffrage Movement. When taught in school about the historic fight for the vote, the erasure of Black women and Black men from the movement is often overlooked. We learn about the popular names, Martin Luther King, Jr. and if we’re lucky, we may even learn there was a movement called the Selma-to-Montgomery March and Bloody Sunday. We hear about events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but not that it lasted for 381 days. We often don’t hear about, consider, or imagine the struggle so many people went through just to sit where they want to sit, to cast a ballot and have it counted, and to be seen as a human being.
For all the reasons stated above, I’m bringing into the light Anna A. Clemons, and giving her her due. You’ve probably never heard of Anna because her story is always diminished to a foot note. When you search her on Google, about 7 results come up. She has no pictures associated with her on the Library of Congress. She isn’t talked about in videos and articles, except as a mere
footnote
[1]
,
a
supporting document
[2]
. Much like enslaved African people, I can’t even find a record of when she was born or when she died. That’s because Anna A. Clemons represents Black women erased from time, from legacy, and from dignity. Very few people are aware that White suffragettes perpetrated, instigated, and supporterd racism and discrimination against Black women suffragettes who fought just as hard for passage of the 19th Amendment
[3]
. Anna's story illuminates this serious failing in the suffragette movement. The erasure of Black women from the suffrage movement on this 100
th
Anniversary Year of the 19
th
Amendment is why this entire first week of our #VRABlackHistory series is dedicated to Black women suffragettes.
[1]
Cott, N. (1984). Feminist Politics in the 1920s: The National Woman's Party.
The Journal of American History, 71
(1), 52. doi:10.2307/1899833
[3]
See Facebook comment posted on August 6th, 2019 detailing disdain for the assertion “the 19th Amendment was not for Black women” because the commenter believed White men alone were responsible for the racist acts that prevented Black women from exercising their full rights under the 19th Amendment. Belmount-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument. (2019b, August 6). [Facebook comment on Page post]. Retrieved From:
https://www.facebook.com/WomensEqualityNPS/posts/712906149130672?comment_id=713374565750497
Biography
Miss Anna A. Clemons was a Black woman from Southport, North Carolina (Clemons, A. A., 1920a, para. 2). She was the only girl among 8 siblings. She owned property in Brunswick County, paid her taxes, and worked as a nurse. She nursed in almost every home in her town starting in 1911, and sometimes acted as an assistant to Dr. J. Arthur Doshice, one of the South’s best surgeons. She was a charitable woman who donated to the Red Cross; volunteered during the flu epidemic of 1918; and, held a certificate for heroic services rendered across the state of North Carolina. Anna was a Christian woman who belonged to the Methodist Church and sought to live in peace. (Clemons, A. A., 1920b, para. 2)
The First Letter to the National Woman's Party (NWP)
Anna was not a civil rights leader. However, she was very educated in politics, active in her community affairs, and passionate about the right to vote. Unfortunately, as far as we know, that passion never translated to an actual right to vote. Frustrated with being denied the right to vote after the ratification of the 19
th
Amendment, Anna wrote to the NWP first on October 10
th
, 1920. She was seeking help and information from the Secretary of the NWP on how to vote or register to vote by mail before it was too late to register. As she detailed in this one paragraph letter to the NWP, she sought assistance “because a colored person in my county is unable to vote, because they are colored” (Clemons, A. A., 1920a, para. 2).
Voting Problems for African Americans in North Carolina
On October 15
th
, 1920, before even receiving a letter back from the NWP, Anna went in person to register to vote, but the Registrator refused to register her because her ability to read and write did not “suit” him. North Carolina law, at that time, required someone to be able to read and write to register to vote, yet even when those requirements were met by people of color, those people of color still were refused by rogue Registrator’s. Therefore, the ability to read and write well enough to
satisfy
, or “suit”, the Registrator became a known racist and exclusionary requirement to register to vote for all Black people. (Clemons, A. A., 1920b, para. 2)
The NWP's Response to Anna's First Letter
On October 20
th
, 1920, the NWP Headquarters Secretary, Emma Wold, responded to Anna’s letter. Emma responded that she just received the October 10
th
letter, and informed Anna that registration in North Carolina had to be done in person and in the precinct she lived, and that voting by mail was only possible when applying for a ballot to the county Board. Emma stated that the deadline to register to vote was October 23
rd
and reiterated no one could register outside of their own precinct. (Wold, E., 1920b, para. 2 and 3)
In addition to providing that information, most of which Anna didn’t ask about, Emma also discredited and trivialized the problem Anna originally wrote about by stating “we have been making inquiries and learn that colored women are being registered in North Carolina. Have you tried personally?” (Wold, E., 1920b, para. 4). Despite this, Emma stated to write back if the registration board refused to register her and the NWP would look into the matter and see what could be done.
Anna's Second and Last Letter to the NWP
On October 24
th
, 1920, Anna wrote back to Emma, stating she received the NWP response letter on October 23
rd
and further detailing her October 15
th
experience, explaining that “all people of colored origin” in her whole county had been unable to “suit” the Registrator. These registration problems were not unique to Anna, or even all the Black women in her community, but also her seven brothers, who she referred to as “law abiding supposed to be citizens”. (Clemons, A., 1920b, para. 2)
Aside from the erasure of Miss Anna A. Clemons, there is another reason her name is not well known: she didn’t want it to be. In this October 24
th
letter, which would be Anna’s last letter to the NWP, Anna vehemently objected to her name being made public in her appeal for her right to vote if the matter was investigated. This sad telling is best read through Anna’s own words:
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"I hope, and ask if you should have this matter investigated, then please do not let my name be brought into this matter because their [sic] is so much prejudice existing until I am most assured I will be a victim of lawless Mob. To show you I am no agitator, or race leader, I will try to explain just my position…[I] don't interfere with no race of people, and try to live here as I expect to live when I pass in the great beyond, that is in peace.” (Clemons, A., 1920b, para. 2)
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The last line of Anna’s letter also reads “[h]oping and resting assured you will not use my name in this matter that I will close” (Clemons, A., 1920b, para. 3).
The NWP's Final Response to Anna
On November 2
nd
, 1920, Emma responded to Anna’s second and last letter, stating she had called the October 24
th
letter to Alice Paul’s attention. Alice Paul was one of the founding members and driving forces behind the NWP and its steadfast missions. After hearing the vast and deep seeded registration problems of African Americans in Southport, rather than springing into action, Emma wrote that she and Alice had given “the situation in the south a good deal of thought”, however the ONLY solution they saw to the “matter” was one which was “not available” then. Their sole, yet unavailable, option was pressing through Congress an “Enabling Act” which would have placed “federal authority over the registration and election officials in all the states and so make interference with, or prevention of, the proper execution of the election laws a federal offense”. Emma further stated that the NWP tried to get such an Enabling Act through Congress before it adjourned that last Spring, “but did not get farther than the introduction of the measure”. The last line of Emma’s letter reads “[w]e expect to be able to work for the passage of this Act at the coming session of Congress”. (Wold, E., 1920a, para. 2-3)
Please note that Alice Paul went on to write the first version of the Equal Rights Amendment (National Woman’s Party, 2018, The NWP’s Fight for Equality section, para. 4) . This shows the complexities of the intersectionality between gender and race and the fight for the vote.
Conclusion
Other African Americans who wrote to the NWP to detail the disenfranchisement of African American women between 1919-1924 include Harriot Stanton Blatch, Mary White Ovington, Hallie Q. Brown, Mrs. William Spencer Murray, Inez Richardson, and Walter White (Sklar, K.K. & Dias, J, 1997a). Unfortunately, Anna’s story is just one of probably millions outlining the sad realities of African Americans, especially African American women, who attempted to exercise their full citizenship, and the courageous heroism of those whose names we do know from the Civil Rights and Suffrage Movements.
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References
Clemons, A. A. (1920a, October 10). [Letter from Anna A. Clemons to the National Woman's Party, electronic version]
. National Woman's Party Papers, 1913-1974, Library of Congress Microfilm (1979), reel 5
. In
How Did the National Woman's Party Address the Issue of the Enfranchisement of Black Women, 1919-1924?
, Document 2, by Kathryn Kish Sklar and Jill Dias. (Binghamton, NY: State University of New York at Binghamton, 1997). Retrieved from:
https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1000688566
Clemons, A. A. (1920b, October 24). [Letter to Miss Emma Wold from Anna A. Clemons, electronic version]
. National Woman's Party Papers, 1913-1974, Library of Congress Microfilm (1979), reel 5
. In
How Did the National Woman's Party Address the Issue of the Enfranchisement of Black Women, 1919-1924?
, Document 4, by Kathryn Kish Sklar and Jill Dias. (Binghamton, NY: State University of New York at Binghamton, 1997). Retrieved from:
https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1000687199
Cott, N. (1984). Feminist Politics in the 1920s: The National Woman's Party.
The Journal of American History,
71
(1), 52. doi:10.2307/1899833
Wold, E. (1920a, November 2). [Letter from Emma Wold to Miss Anna A. Clemons, electronic version]
. National Woman's Party Papers, 1913-1974, Library of Congress Microfilm (1979), reel 5
. In
How Did the National Woman's Party Address the Issue of the Enfranchisement of Black Women, 1919-1924?
, Document 5, by Kathryn Kish Sklar and
Wold, E. (1920b, October 20). [Letter from Emma Wold to Miss Anna A. Clemons, electronic version]
. National Woman's Party Papers, 1913-1974, Library of Congress Microfilm (1979), reel 5
. In
How Did the National Woman's Party Address the Issue of the Enfranchisement of Black Women, 1919-1924?
, Document 3, by Kathryn Kish Sklar and
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