Michelle Duster (pictured), great granddaughter of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, said there has been some erasure of the contributions of African American women when it comes to the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

Michelle Duster (pictured) is the great granddaughter of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, educator, journalist and activist. Duster spoke at The Wing about African American Suffragists and their fight for inclusion. Photo Credit: Tia Carol Jones
Michelle Duster (pictured) is the great granddaughter of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, educator, journalist and activist. Duster spoke at The Wing about African American Suffragists and their fight for inclusion. Photo Credit: Tia Carol Jones

Talk looks at efforts of Black women to gain right to vote

BY TIA CAROL JONES

Michelle Duster is the great granddaughter of activist and journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett. On Thursday, Feb. 20, she spoke about African American Suffragists and their fight for inclusion.

2020 marks the centennial of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

During her presentation, which was held at The Wing, 811 W. Fulton Market, Duster talked about the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the difference between white women and Black women when it came to the suffrage movement.

“As far as the difference between Black women and white women, it was almost like separate, but unequal as it is in so many other ways in our country,” she said.

Duster talked about the meeting in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, that was initiated by Elizabeth Cady Stanton that had a sort of Women’s Declaration of Independence.

“It was mostly wealthy white women, why, because they had a little bit more time and resources to kind of focus on trying to gain these rights,” she said. “Most women who are working class, just didn’t have that amount of time on their hands to do that.”

Duster said a lot of the white women were abolitionists.

“So, they did believe that African American people who were enslaved, did not deserve to be enslaved, but they didn’t necessarily believe that they actually should be absolutely equal,” she said.

In 1869, the 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote. Duster said that set white suffragists off. They had been working around 20 years to get the right to vote for themselves, so they were not pleased with the idea that Black men, who were in some cases considered former property, would get the right to vote before they would.

Duster said in 1890, the National American Women’s Suffrage Association was founded, but they didn’t include all women.

“They just so happened to not really be welcoming to African American women because they wanted to appeal to their southern sisters, who did not feel comfortable working with African American women side-by-side. So, they chose White Supremacy over sisterhood,” she said.

Duster said Black women, in parallel, were working on the Women’s Suffrage Movement, but it started in the church.

“Black women also started working for the suffrage movement for the right of black women getting the right to vote, but they started through the churches. Most of our civil engagement as African Americans begins through the churches,” she said.

“In this case, it was the African Methodist Episcopal Church. This was women who were fighting to have more equality within the church. Then, they branched out from the church and wanted to have equal rights in other areas of society.”

Duster talked about the Colored Women’s League, which was founded in 1892 in Washington, DC, and the National Federation of Afro American Women, founded in Boston, in 1895. Then, she talked about the National Association of Colored Women, which was founded in 1896.

“My great grandmother was one of the founders of the NACW. And then, she, my great grandmother, Ida B. Wells, founded Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago, which is credited with being the first all African American suffrage club in the country,” she said.

Duster went on to talk about her great grandmother and her accomplishments, which included being an educator, journalist and activist.

“She was the co-founder of the NAACP,” she said. “Here in Chicago, by today’s standards, she would be considered a community activist, a social worker and she worked for fair housing.”

Duster pointed out that all women did not get the right to vote in 1920, 45 years later, Black women got the right to vote through the Voting Rights Act.

Duster said while Black women, were at the forefront of the suffrage movement, there has been erasure when it comes to telling the history of their contributions.

Duster talked about Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman and their contributions to the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

“Most people think of Harriet Tubman as someone who was part of the Underground Railroad,” she said. “But she was kind of involved in the Women’s Suffrage Movement.”

She talked about her efforts to make the story more inclusive and the work her family has done to make sure her great grandmother’s name and legacy are known.

Those efforts have included the naming of Ida B. Wells Drive, an honorary street named after her at 37th and King Drive, as well as a placard at the site of the Ida B. Wells Homes in Chicago. In Holly Springs, Miss., where Wells-Barnett was born, there is an Ida B. Wells Museum as well as a historical marker in the town square.

Duster said she has been keeping track of monuments depicting the Women’s Suffrage Movement and wants to make sure Black women are included.

“It matters to be able to see yourself in public spaces,” she said. “Public monuments tell the story of our country.”

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