The Alpha Suffrage Club was the first and most important black female suffrage club in Chicago and one of the most important in Illinois. [1] It was founded on January 30, 1913, [2] [3] by Ida B. Wells with the help of her white colleagues Belle Squire and Virginia Brooks. The Club aimed to give a voice to African American women who had been excluded from national suffrage organizations such as the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). [4] Its stated purpose was to inform black women of their civic responsibility and to organize them to help elect candidates who would best serve the interests of African Americans in Chicago.
The club was formed after women in Chicago were granted the right to vote in the year 1910. It fought against the white Chicago women who were trying to ban African Americans from voting altogether. They also wanted to promote the election of African Americans to public office. [5] As Wells stated in her autobiography, "we (women) could use our vote for the advantage of ourselves and our race." [6] Quoted in the Chicago Defender , a local black newspaper, she was more specific, stating that the object of the Alpha Suffrage Club was to make women "strong enough to help elect some conscientious race man as alderman." [7] Besides focusing on women's newly gained civil duty to vote, Wells also encouraged these women to ensure that their husbands were taking seriously their responsibility to vote as well, recognizing the "sacredness" of the vote to both sexes. [8]
At the first anniversary of the club's founding, Kentucky-born poet Bettiola Heloise Fortson, vice-president of the club, read her poem "Brothers" which told the story of two men who had been lynched by a mob for their attempt to save their sister from her imprisonment by a farmer in Alabama as a slave. [9]
In October 2021, a historic marker for the Alpha Suffrage Club on the National Votes for Women Trail was placed at its former site at the corner of 31st and State Street in Chicago.
1913, the year in which the club was founded, was a time still rife with Jim Crow laws and casual discrimination. Black women were subservient to men and other White women and denied education and social mobility. They were also confined to social expectations such as taking on domestic responsibilities and working on the farms if necessary. They were also unprotected by laws even when they were abused and rape by men. Lynching was also common and they denied African American women any chance to prove their innocence from false claims. This fueled the movement founded by Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
Wells declared that an inherent problem to black women was the fact that they were overall less invested in gaining the vote because the men and churches of their communities had not supported it. Once they did receive the right to vote, "nobody had attempted to instruct them in voting". [7] The Alpha Suffrage Club attempted to amend this through means like canvassing neighborhoods and registering black women to vote.
African American women as a whole were stretched between civil rights movements: black men who had already gained the right to vote wanted them to stop focusing on suffrage and concentrate their efforts on issues surrounding race, while white suffragettes wanted the opposite. Neither group considered that black women's lives were affected by both their sex and their race. [10]
In the early years of the women's suffrage movement, abolition was something that brought many people together. Abolition and women's rights supporters worked together from the conclusion of the Civil War until the late 1800s. Frederick Douglass even used the famous abolitionist newspaper, the North Star, to advertise the 1848 Seneca Falls suffrage meeting. [5] The American Equal Rights Association was formed in 1866 to win suffrage for all. This organization supported both women's and African American's voting rights at first, but with the passing of the 14th and 15th Amendments, there was a change in the group dynamics. Instead of this one organization, in 1868 there were two groups that had differing opinions about black men being given the right to vote. Black women were members of both groups for a time and then racism became a tool that many suffrage groups channeled.
As time went on, the main goal of the movement became the right to vote and in order to gain broad support throughout the United States, they used black voting rights as a type of scapegoat. [11] Southern women were especially opposed to these Black suffragettes and still held the belief that African Americans were inferior. Ida B. Wells, one of the founders of the Alpha Suffrage Club, was told she could only participate in the black section of the Woman Suffrage Parade because she was an African American woman. Despite the opposition, Wells still joined the white women marching and fighting for suffrage that day. [12]
About a year later Wells founded a suffrage club that supported all women in the pursuit of the right to vote. Her organization advocated suffrage for all women, no matter their race or class, which was something that other popular woman suffrage groups did not push for at that time. [13] The movement became divided, with one part of the movement supporting women's suffrage for all women and the other side only supporting white women suffrage. Women like Ida B. Wells felt that not granting all people the right to vote would hurt the overall cause and therefore the Alpha Suffrage Club supported all people's suffrage. This group distinction caused much conflict for ultimately no reason. The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920 and granted suffrage to all women no matter their race, economic standing, or class. So although there was racism in the early fight for women's vote, the law produced was not discriminatory.
The Woman Suffrage Procession took place in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1913, the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson. Its intent was to demonstrate support of universal suffrage for women. [14] One of Wells' first actions as the President of the Alpha Suffrage Club was to travel to Washington and march in the parade along with 65 club members, black women from Illinois. [15] The constraints placed on their participation in the event illustrate the discrimination black women faced in the suffrage movement at that time.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association, which organized the event, feared offending southern white suffragists by allowing black and white women to march together. To avoid this possibility, the leader of the NAWSA instructed Wells to march at the end of the procession in a segregated section for African-American women. [16] [17] Wells refused to do as march organizers requested. [17] Although Grace Wilbur Trout, the Chair of the Illinois delegation, warned Wells that her involvement in the march could lead to the exclusion of the Illinois group from the parade, [1] she insisted that she would not move to the back, stating that "I shall not march at all unless I can march under the Illinois banner." [18] Wells wanted to show the entire country that they were progressive enough to allow women of all races to stand against the hypocrisy of NAWSA's policies. However, no one listened to her except for Belle Squire and Virginia Brooks, two of her white colleagues.
Brooks and Squire ended up joining Wells-Barnett in protesting the segregation by race. The women offered to march with their friend at the back of the parade. In defiance, she joined the spectators until the Chicago delegation marched by and then joined them in the procession. A picture of this occurrence was in the Chicago Daily Tribune . [19] A reporter happened to be standing at the spot when Wells-Barnett stepped out of the crowd and into the procession. However, only Wells-Barnett and not the other dozens of black women from Illinois marched with the Illinois delegation. The rest of the Alpha Suffrage Club marched at the back with the other black delegates, which included Delta Sigma Theta sisters [20] and Mary Church Terrell. [21] The club paid for all of Wells' expenses to make it possible for her to march. [22]
The Alpha Suffrage Club had many beliefs and ideals that other suffrage groups lacked. The group was founded on the basic principle that all women, no matter their race, should receive the right to vote along with the men. There were other groups advocating for women's right to vote, but there was a lack of support for colored women suffrage. [23] They were of the opinion that to fully enjoy suffrage equally, it was important to be involved in political happenings. Their Chicago-based group played an active role in legislation on voting, equality, and other civil rights matters. They supported philanthropy efforts in their community in order to strengthen colored people's standing in the city of Chicago. They were early supporters of equality for colored people on many levels. Ida B. Wells preached that the right to vote was not being properly used by men once equal suffrage was achieved. Now that suffrage was given to both men and women, their goal was to maximize the vote. [24] They wanted equality and they wanted empowerment for colored women.
Besides universal suffrage, the club also fought for racial equality in other areas. They questioned why brave soldiers had to be seen by race instead of by their deeds. [25]
Wells-Barnett formed the Alpha Suffrage Club in direct response seeing white women "working like beavers" to pass an Illinois granting limited suffrage to women in the State. [26] Soon after returning from the Washington parade, Wells-Barnett led a congregation of several hundred black women through Springfield's Capitol building to lobby on behalf of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Act and against a handful of pending Jim Crow bills. [27] The IESA was signed into law on June 26, 1913, making Illinois the first state in decades to grant suffrage. Carrie Chapman Catt wrote that "suffrage sentiment doubled over night". [27] Combined with the successful Suffrage Parade of 1913 and ongoing Silent Sentinels protest, Illinois' bold step for suffrage reinvigorated the national push for a suffrage amendment.
A motorcar parade in Chicago celebrated the landmark legislation. On July 1, Wells-Barrnett was a parade marshall, riding with her daughter Alfreda down Michigan Avenue, but this honor was only noted in the Chicago Defender. [28] [29] Her prominent roll went unremarked in the other Chicago papers.
The IESA was the result of lobbying by national and local suffrage organizations and clubs. Social clubs at the time were strictly segregated by race and ethnicity. As one historian has noted, “Club women in Chicago established the most and largest gender-segregated suffrage clubs in the nation." [30] The exclusion of black women motivated Wells and Squire to create the Alpha Suffrage Club in 2nd Ward, which had the highest percentage of African Americans in the city. It held at least one meeting at Bridewell Penitentiary in an attempt to interest prisoners in suffrage and give Club women experience in activism. [31] The club had nearly 200 members in 1916, including well-known female suffrage activists Mary E. Jackson, Viola Hill, Vera Wesley Green, and Sadie L. Adams. Jane Addams was a regular speaker at the club.
As a result of the IESA, Illinois women were allowed to vote for presidential electors, mayor, aldermen and most other local offices. [32] They were not, however, allowed to vote for members of Congress, Governor or State representatives, as universal suffrage for these offices required amending the state constitution. [33]
The Alpha Suffrage Club played an active and important role in Chicago politics, particularly in the primaries and 1915 general election for alderman in 2nd Ward. The Club developed a block system [34] to canvas the ward to register African American Women to vote. [18] ASC's efforts in 1914 registered 7,290 women in a ward with 16,237 registered men. [35] In an early primary election the Club supported the independent black candidate William R. Cowen, who was not endorsed by the city Republican Party. Despite the canvassing efforts by African-American women on his behalf, he lost the election [36] by only 352 votes. [37] The Alpha Suffrage Club's influence, however, was quickly acknowledged by the press with the Chicago Defender, reporting that “. . .the women’s vote was a revelation to everyone...” [38] In addition to press coverage, the Republican Party had noticed the club's influence. It sent two delegates to the club's meeting the day following the election, and encouraged the women to keep campaigning. They also promised that the Republicans would support an African-American candidate in the election of the next year. [39]
After the primary election members of the club continued their work. They focused on communities with large percentages of African-Americans as they canvassed neighborhoods. They also held weekly meetings to discuss civic responsibilities, [40] showed women how to use voting machines and trained women to act as precinct judges. [40] They also distributed lists of voting locations in all wards of the city. [41]
In the course of their organizing, the women's efforts met significant criticism. Men “jeered at them and told them they ought to be at home taking care of the babies.” Others accused them of “trying to take the place of men and wear the trousers.” [1] Local newspapers stated their concerns of the women's door to door canvassing and the prospect of women “seeing all of the activities that might be going on.” [40]
After the club's success in the 1914 primary, the Republican Party designated Oscar De Priest, as their candidate in the 2nd Ward, in the later city election for alderman. He ran against two white candidates and won. [42] As the first black alderman in Chicago he was elected in 1914 to the Chicago City Council, and served from 1915 to 1917. The impact of the club's organizing was clear, as one third of the votes he received were cast by women. De Priest and the club had come to know each other well through his attending Club meetings throughout the elections. After his election De Priest acknowledged the work done by the women in the 2nd Ward who had been important in his success. [1] News of the club's success traveled beyond the city. A black Indianapolis paper proudly reported on the election "of a Negro for alderman" due "in no small part" to the 1,093 votes cast by black women. [43] De Priest served only one term as alderman after allegations of corruption, but De Priest's career continued and he later became the first African American to be elected to the U.S. Congress post-reconstruction era. However the influence of ACS in the Second Ward remained strong. Another black Alderman, Louis B. Anderson, succeeded De Priest cementing a change in Chicago's second ward. [44]
The Alpha Suffrage Club published the newsletter, the Alpha Suffrage Record, which was used to announce the formation of the club, to describe its activities and to extend its reach a larger group of African Americans in the city. It focused on the population of the 2nd Ward in the city, and gave the Club women a public political voice. [45]
The woman suffrage parade of 1913 legitimized the woman suffrage movement as a whole. The Alpha Suffrage Club and its protest against being forced to march in the back brought a spotlight to the fact that racism was also an issue even within an otherwise united movement. [46] NAWSA wanted to secure white woman suffrage before moving on to African Americans, but the Alpha Suffrage Club and other suffrage associations pushed against that idea, and as a result the 19th amendment granted voting rights to all women, regardless of race.
The credibility of the club was recognized after the primary elections in 1914, when Republican delegates attended a club meeting and promised to choose a black nominee in exchange for the women's support in future campaigns. The crucial role the club played in electing Oscar DePriest yielded his support for women's voting rights, buoying the club's causes in the ensuing years, furthering their efforts to back their social reforms with political power. [47]
Locally, the Alpha Suffrage Club started a system to canvas neighborhoods and increase community engagement through weekly meetings to educate people on their rights as a citizen. They were also able to register female voters through block by block canvassing. The protests and demonstrations efforts made by the club also brought pressure for the U.S. Congress to approve the 19th amendment on June 10, 1919, which came into effect on August 18, 1920.
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the United States and its states from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex, in effect recognizing the right of women to vote. The amendment was the culmination of a decades-long movement for women's suffrage in the United States, at both the state and national levels, and was part of the worldwide movement towards women's suffrage and part of the wider women's rights movement. The first women's suffrage amendment was introduced in Congress in 1878. However, a suffrage amendment did not pass the House of Representatives until May 21, 1919, which was quickly followed by the Senate, on June 4, 1919. It was then submitted to the states for ratification, achieving the requisite 36 ratifications to secure adoption, and thereby went into effect, on August 18, 1920. The Nineteenth Amendment's adoption was certified on August 26, 1920.
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Wells dedicated her career to combating prejudice and violence, and advocating for African-American equality—especially that of women.
Women's suffrage, or the right of women to vote, was established in the United States over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, first in various states and localities, then nationally in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was a single-issue national organization formed in 1869 to work for women's suffrage in the United States. The AWSA lobbied state governments to enact laws granting or expanding women's right to vote in the United States. Lucy Stone, its most prominent leader, began publishing a newspaper in 1870 called the Woman's Journal. It was designed as the voice of the AWSA, and it eventually became a voice of the women's movement as a whole.
African-American women began to agitate for political rights in the 1830s, creating the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, and New York Female Anti-Slavery Society. These interracial groups were radical expressions of women's political ideals, and they led directly to voting rights activism before and after the Civil War. Throughout the 19th century, African-American women such as Harriet Forten Purvis, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper worked on two fronts simultaneously: reminding African-American men and white women that Black women needed legal rights, especially the right to vote.
The Woman Suffrage Procession on March 3, 1913, was the first suffragist parade in Washington, D.C. It was also the first large, organized march on Washington for political purposes. The procession was organized by the suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Planning for the event began in Washington in December 1912. As stated in its official program, the parade's purpose was to "march in a spirit of protest against the present political organization of society, from which women are excluded."
Grace Belden Wilbur Trout was an American suffragist who was president of two prominent Illinois suffrage organizations, the Chicago Political Equality League and the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA). She was instrumental in getting the Illinois legislature to pass the presidential and municipal suffrage law, also known as the "Illinois Law," a law giving women partial suffrage by allowing them to vote in local and national elections. Though inexperienced with legislative work, she implemented a strategic lobbying plan in the state legislature that succeeded. She also organized public campaigns to build support for suffrage and secured favorable statewide media coverage.
Women's suffrage was established in the United States on a full or partial basis by various towns, counties, states, and territories during the latter decades of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century. As women received the right to vote in some places, they began running for public office and gaining positions as school board members, county clerks, state legislators, judges, and, in the case of Jeannette Rankin, as a member of Congress.
Virginia Brooks was an American suffragist and political reformer who worked in the Chicago region and throughout Indiana in the early 1900s. She was born to parents who moved from Ohio to Chicago. Brooks penned two books, Little Lost Sister (1914) and My Battles with Vice (1915).
The Frederick Douglass Woman's Club was formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1906. It was one of the first women's clubs in Chicago to promote suffrage. It was notable because it was one of the few interracial women's clubs in Chicago.
Bettiola Heloise Fortson was an African-American poet, essayist, activist and suffragist. Fortson was one of the first African-American people in the Midwestern United States to write and publish a book.
Belle Squire, properly Viola Belle Squire, (1870–1939) was a suffragist from Illinois who was involved in the Chicago suffrage movement and co-founded the Alpha Suffrage Club with Ida B. Wells. She was especially known for her opposition to paying taxes when women did not have a right to vote. Squire argued expecting women to pay taxes while they were not enfranchised was a form of taxation without representation.
Sadie L. Adams was an African-American teacher, suffragist, and clubwoman. She was one of the first women to serve on an election board in Chicago and one of the founders of the Douglas League of Women Voters. In 1916, she served as a delegate from Chicago's first black suffrage organization, the Alpha Suffrage Club, to the National Equal Rights League conference. She was elected president of the Chicago and Northern District Association of Colored Women's Clubs in 1921, serving into 1934. She was also involved in various charity clubs and organizations that helped to engage women in war work during World War I, provide resources for underserved youth, and increase suffrage for Black women.
Bertha Grant Higgins was an American suffragist, civil rights activist and clubwoman. She was involved in supporting women's suffrage in Rhode Island. She strongly supported the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill and worked towards equal rights for African Americans.
The first women's suffrage group in Georgia, the Georgia Woman Suffrage Association (GWSA), was formed in 1892 by Helen Augusta Howard. Over time, the group, which focused on "taxation without representation" grew and earned the support of both men and women. Howard convinced the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to hold their first convention outside of Washington, D.C., in 1895. The convention, held in Atlanta, was the first large women's rights gathering in the Southern United States. GWSA continued to hold conventions and raise awareness over the next years. Suffragists in Georgia agitated for suffrage amendments, for political parties to support white women's suffrage and for municipal suffrage. In the 1910s, more organizations were formed in Georgia and the number of suffragists grew. In addition, the Georgia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage also formed an organized anti-suffrage campaign. Suffragists participated in parades, supported bills in the legislature and helped in the war effort during World War I. In 1917 and 1919, women earned the right to vote in primary elections in Waycross, Georgia and in Atlanta respectively. In 1919, after the Nineteenth Amendment went out to the states for ratification, Georgia became the first state to reject the amendment. When the Nineteenth Amendment became the law of the land, women still had to wait to vote because of rules regarding voter registration. White Georgia women would vote statewide in 1922. Native American women and African-American women had to wait longer to vote. Black women were actively excluded from the women's suffrage movement in the state and had their own organizations. Despite their work to vote, Black women faced discrimination at the polls in many different forms. Georgia finally ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on February 20, 1970.
Women's suffrage began in Illinois began in the mid-1850s. The first women's suffrage group was formed in Earlville, Illinois, by the cousin of Susan B. Anthony, Susan Hoxie Richardson. After the Civil War, former abolitionist Mary Livermore organized the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association (IWSA), which would later be renamed the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA). Frances Willard and other suffragists in the IESA worked to lobby various government entities for women's suffrage. In the 1870s, women were allowed to serve on school boards and were elected to that office. The first women to vote in Illinois were 15 women in Lombard, Illinois, led by Ellen A. Martin, who found a loophole in the law in 1891. Women were eventually allowed to vote for school offices in the 1890s. Women in Chicago and throughout Illinois fought for the right to vote based on the idea of no taxation without representation. They also continued to expand their efforts throughout the state. In 1913, women in Illinois were successful in gaining partial suffrage. They became the first women east of the Mississippi River to have the right to vote in presidential elections. Suffragists then worked to register women to vote. Both African-American and white suffragists registered women in huge numbers. In Chicago alone 200,000 women were registered to vote. After gaining partial suffrage, women in Illinois kept working towards full suffrage. The state became the first to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, passing the ratification on June 10, 1919. The League of Women Voters (LWV) was announced in Chicago on February 14, 1920.
This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Illinois. Women's suffrage in Illinois began in the mid 1850s. The first women's suffrage group was created in 1855 in Earlville, Illinois by Susan Hoxie Richardson. The Illinois Woman Suffrage Association (IWSA), later renamed the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA), was created by Mary Livermore in 1869. This group held annual conventions and petitioned various governmental bodies in Illinois for women's suffrage. On June 19, 1891, women gained the right to vote for school offices. However, it wasn't until 1913 that women saw expanded suffrage. That year women in Illinois were granted the right to vote for Presidential electors and various local offices. Suffragists continued to fight for full suffrage in the state. Finally, Illinois became the first state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment on June 10, 1919. The League of Women Voters (LWV) was announced in Chicago on February 14, 1920.
Viola Hill was an African-American suffragist, activist, and musician. She was a founding member of the Alpha Suffrage Club and a community leader within the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Negro Fellowship League (NFL) Reading Room and Social Center was the first black settlement house in Chicago. It was founded by Ida B. Wells and her husband Ferdinand Barnett, and provided social services and community resources for black men arriving in Chicago from the south during the Great Migration. Resources included helping them find employment, housing, voting access, literacy and education resources, and more.
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