10 Black Suffragists Who Made History

The 19th Amendment, ratified on August 18, 1920, extended voting rights to women, yet it largely benefited white women. Black women and other women of color encountered discrimination and obstacles when attempting to vote.

Although they collaborated with prominent suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, many Black suffragists remain overlooked. Black women were segregated during marches, and even after the 19th Amendment, Jim Crow laws in the South prevented Black women and men from voting. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally removed these barriers, enabling Black citizens in the South to vote. Here are 10 Black women who played pivotal roles in the suffragist movement.

1. Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth, a preacher, abolitionist, and the earliest recognized Black suffragist, was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797 in Ulster County, New York. Enslaved until her escape in 1827, she found refuge with an abolitionist family who secured her freedom. Relocating to New York City, she served a local minister before feeling a divine call to preach, prompting her to adopt the name Sojourner Truth. She emerged as a prominent advocate against slavery and for women’s rights, captivating audiences at conventions across the eastern U.S. Her iconic speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?”, delivered at an 1851 women’s convention in Akron, Ohio, remains legendary. While historians debate the exact wording, an 1863 version includes this powerful excerpt:

“That man over there claims women need assistance into carriages, help over ditches, and the finest spots everywhere. Yet no one aids me into carriages, over mud-puddles, or offers me the best place! Ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I’ve plowed, planted, and gathered into barns—no man could outdo me! Ain’t I a woman? … If the first woman God created had the strength to turn the world upside down alone, these women together can surely set it right again! And now that they seek to do so, men should step aside.”

2. Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s awakening occurred after she was forcibly removed from a first-class train car despite holding a valid ticket, refusing to sit in the segregated section for Black passengers. (She later sued the railroad and won.) Born in Mississippi in 1862, Wells-Barnett dedicated her life to combating segregation as an investigative journalist, newspaper publisher, educator, and activist. In 1892, following the lynching of three friends, she penned a groundbreaking exposé on white supremacist violence against Black citizens, demanding accountability from officials. Her work sparked violent retaliation, forcing her to relocate from Memphis to Chicago.

In Chicago, she co-founded the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, a public service organization, and established the Alpha Suffrage Club, a key suffragist group that mobilized Black voters and supported Black political candidates. That same year, she participated in the segregated Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C., once again refusing to move to the back.

3. Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell, a classics scholar at Oberlin College, became one of the first Black women to attain both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. After relocating to Washington, D.C., she taught Latin at the M Street School, the nation’s first public high school for Black students, and became deeply involved in the women’s rights movement. She co-founded the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs alongside Ida B. Wells-Barnett and other prominent activists, serving as its first president and creating the group’s motto, “Lifting as we climb.”

In 1910, Terrell established the National Association of University Women, an organization fostering camaraderie among professional women. She traveled across the country advocating for women’s suffrage, highlighting in her speeches and writings the contradictions of white suffragists who championed women’s rights while ignoring the struggles of Black individuals.

4. Mary B. Talbert

Mary B. Talbert, born and educated in Oberlin, Ohio, was an educator, activist, and co-founder of the Phyllis Wheatley Club—the Buffalo, New York, chapter of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. In 1905, she played a key role in establishing the Niagara Movement, a civil rights group that preceded the NAACP, where she later served as vice president. As a passionate advocate for women’s suffrage, she led the National Association of Colored Women as president from 1916 to 1920, expanding it into a national organization. Among her notable achievements was preserving and restoring the Frederick Douglass Home in Washington, D.C. Talbert also contributed articles on suffrage to The Crisis, the NAACP’s magazine, and gained international recognition as a powerful speaker, advocating for women’s rights during her travels abroad.

5. Nannie Helen Burroughs

Nannie Helen Burroughs, a dedicated educator, religious leader, and feminist, dedicated her life to empowering Black women and girls by advocating for better job training and career opportunities. A graduate of the M Street School in Washington, D.C., she was mentored by Mary Church Terrell. Burroughs co-founded the National Association of Colored Women and led the Women’s Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention, a massive organization of over 1 million women that supported women’s suffrage. In 1909, she successfully persuaded the National Baptist Convention to create the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, funded entirely by Black donors, to provide education and training for Black women. She served as the school’s president until her death in 1961, after which it was renamed in her honor.

6. Frances E.W. Harper

Frances E.W. Harper, born in Baltimore in 1825, gained recognition for her poetry and writings that condemned slavery, racism, and gender inequality. Introduced to literature while working in a Quaker household during her teenage years, she became an abolitionist speaker and participated in the Underground Railroad. She supported her family through her speaking engagements and published works, including Forest Leaves (1845) and the novel Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892). A founding member of the American Woman Suffrage Association, she attended women’s rights conferences, including the 1866 Women’s Convention, where she spoke alongside Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. At the event, she highlighted the racial discrimination she faced as a Black woman in predominantly white suffragist organizations, stating, “You white women speak of rights. I speak of wrongs.”

7. Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, a journalist and activist dedicated to mobilizing Black women in New England for civil rights, joined the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association in 1875. In 1893, she co-founded the Women’s Era Club, one of the first public service organizations for Black women, which championed Black voting rights and other civil rights causes. The club later became part of the Massachusetts State Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1895.

When the state federation joined the National Federation of Women’s Clubs shortly afterward, a dispute arose: Ruffin insisted on being recognized at the national federation’s annual convention as the delegate representing a Black women’s club. The national president had not realized she had admitted a Black club into the predominantly white federation. (Ruffin was not acknowledged, but her message was clear.) Ruffin also launched the club’s newspaper, The Women’s Era, the first national publication for Black women, which she edited and published from 1894 to 1897. Black women nationwide contributed their writings, amplifying their voices and highlighting their achievements in the civil rights movement.

8. Harriet Forten Purvis

Harriet Forten Purvis, born in Philadelphia in 1810, was the daughter of James Forten, the city’s most prominent Black businessman and abolitionist. She co-founded the biracial Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society [PDF] with her mother, sisters, suffragist Lucretia Mott, and other leading abolitionists in 1833. The society raised funds to lobby lawmakers and provided housing, protection, and transportation for formerly enslaved individuals. Alongside her husband, Robert Purvis, she served as a key station master on the Underground Railroad. Purvis also spoke out against discrimination in public spaces and organized boycotts of goods produced by enslaved labor.

Purvis was a member of the executive committee of the American Equal Rights Association, alongside Mott, Stanton, Anthony, and Frederick Douglass. After the group split in 1869 over whether to endorse the 15th Amendment, Purvis became a prominent figure in Stanton and Anthony’s National Woman Suffrage Association. Together with her sisters, she played a vital role in organizing the fifth annual National Women’s Rights Convention in 1853.

9. Mary Ann Shadd Cary

Mary Ann Shadd Cary, born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1823, was a multifaceted figure. As a journalist, lawyer, teacher, abolitionist, and suffragist, she moved to Canada following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. (Although she was not enslaved, her family had assisted enslaved individuals through the Underground Railroad.) Recognizing greater economic opportunities for Black people in Canada, Shadd Cary established the Provincial Freeman, an anti-slavery newspaper, becoming the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper. In 1869, she relocated to Washington, D.C., attending Howard University Law School while working as a teacher. A passionate advocate for women’s suffrage, she addressed the 1878 National Woman Suffrage Association convention and was among the 600 signatories of a petition advocating for women’s voting rights, presented to the House Judiciary Committee. She also founded the Colored Women’s Progressive Franchise Association in 1880.

10. Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin

Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin, born in 1883, led consumer protests in Pittsburgh before becoming president of the Lucy Stone Woman Suffrage League in 1915, a group dedicated to securing voting rights for Black women. As a prominent clubwoman, Lampkin held roles as national organizer and chair of the executive board for the National Association for Colored Women, working alongside Mary Church Terrell and other Black suffragists. She was also an active member of the National Suffrage League.

After the 19th Amendment was ratified, Lampkin remained active in mobilizing Black voters through the Negro Voters League of Pennsylvania. She played a pivotal role in uniting Black voters and activists under the NAACP during the 1930s and 1940s, laying the groundwork for the civil rights movement that gained momentum in the 1950s and 1960s.