WEEK 1: VOTING

TODAY'S CHALLENGE: RACISM AND
THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT

The fight for women's suffrage was not as straightforward as you may think. While the 19th amendment is largely celebrated as giving women the right to vote, women of color, particularly in the South, still faced voter suppression tactics such as poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses.

Today, we will examine the intersection of race and gender, and how a lack of intersectionality marginalized women of color during the suffragette movement. Still women of color persevered in a fight seemingly separate - and yet the same.

The names of these African American suffragettes are frequently not listed in history books next to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Therefore, it is even more critical to recognize these pioneering leaders and their contributions to universal suffrage and the Civil Rights Movement.


WE CHALLENGE YOU TO TAKE...

Read this article about the African American suffragists who fought for the right to vote, while also fighting racist backlash from the movemen'ts white leadership - many of whom did not believe that any black person should have the right to vote before white women.
Watch this video that re-frames the way we look at the suffrage movement, and encourages us to do more to honor and remember the black women who bravely fought for universal suffrage.
Read about five amazing women of color who bravely fought for the abolition of slavery, the rights of women, and civil rights in the United States. They pioneered the idea of intersectionality more than a century before the term was officially coined in 1989 .
VOTING WEEK ACTION ALERT

LEVEL 1: Take YWCA USA's pledge to participate in the upcoming U.S. Census.

LEVEL 2: Re gister to vote   in the 2020 general election or assist someone else in registering.

LEVEL 3: Volunteer with Rock the Vote and help register new voters.
DID YOU KNOW? Only 9 percent of Foundation grants are allocated to communities of color.

Make a gift to the YWCA South Hampton Roads today and support our mission to eliminate racism and empower women in our community.