Voting rights advocate and National Council of Negro Women founder Mary Mary McLeod Bethune wielded power in the Roosevelt administration. Congresswoman Val Demings cites the fellow Floridian as an inspiration in her political career. Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for AllIt’s a broad swath of time, and still I often get asked whether anything has changed for Black women in politics since the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment.
The parallels between the voter suppression of the 1920s and that of today are important. In 2020, some state lawmakers have re-enacted voter suppression laws that are neutral on their face, but discriminatory in their effect. Voter ID requirements, the purging of voter rolls, and the shuttering of polling places all are imposed through the discretion of state and local officials who disadvantage voters of color, including Black women.
Black women in Congress were but a dream in 1920. At that time, too many white Americans remained committed to defending a white man and woman’s republic, one in which Black Americans were relegated to the margins of politics if not excluded altogether. That scheme was thwarted only by Black women who turned out at the polls in states like California, Illinois, and New York even before 1920, proving their commitment to influencing parties and elections.
Today, Black women in politics stand upon the shoulders of these early voting rights champions. They drive the outcomes of critically tight races such as that in 2017 Alabama. There, 98% of Black women voters turned out to cast their ballots for U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones, making the difference in a contest that flipped that seat from red to blue. Those vying for public office were put on notice: Black women will organize to vote as a bloc and then turn out on Election Day.
No ma’am you’re lying. Why don’t you work hard in black history telling these stories
RepValDemings I'm still voting in person. Wear a mask.
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