List of African American suffragists

This is a list of African American suffragists, suffrage groups and others associated with the cause of women's suffrage in United States.

Groups

• Afro-American Protective Association (Iowa). ^[1]
• Alpha Suffrage Club (Illinois). ^[2]
• American Woman Suffrage Association. ^[3]
• Colored Women's Equal Suffrage Club (Oregon). ^[4]
• Colored Women's Independent Political League (Ohio). ^[5]
• Colored Women's Suffrage Club of New York. ^[6]
• Colored Women's Suffrage Club (Maryland). ^[7]
• Colored Women's Voting Club in Roanoke (Virginia). ^[8]
• Des Moines League of Colored Women Voters, formed in 1912 (Iowa). ^[9]
• El Paso Negro Woman's Civic and Enfranchisement League, started in 1918 (Texas). ^[10]
• Federated Colored Women's Clubs. ^[11]
• Iowa Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. ^[12]
• Los Angeles Forum of Colored Women. ^[13]
• Lucy Stone Woman Suffrage League (Pennsylvania). ^[14]
• National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. ^[3]
• New Jersey State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (NJSFCWC). ^[15]
• Philadelphia Suffrage Association, founded in 1866 with interracial membership. ^[3]
• Progressive Women's Suffrage Club (Baltimore, Maryland), (also known as the Colored Women's Suffrage Club). ^[16]
• Suffrage Study Club (Wilmington, Delaware). ^[17]
• Tuskegee Women's Club (Alabama). ^[18]

Suffragists

Nannie Helen Burroughs (middle and back row) in 1909.

A

• Christia Adair (Texas). ^[19]
• Osceola Macarthy Adams. ^[20]
• Sadie Lewis Adams (Illinois). ^[21]
• Teresa Adams (Iowa). ^[22]
• Winona Cargile Alexander. ^[23]
• Susan E. Allen (Illinois). ^[24]
• Eliza Anderson. ^[25]
• Naomi Anderson. ^[26]
• Libbie C. Anthony (Missouri). ^[27]
• Blanche Armwood (Florida). ^[28]

B

• Alice Gertrude Baldwin (Delaware). ^[29]
• Maria Louise Baldwin (Massachusetts). ^[30]
• Janie Porter Barrett (Virginia). ^[26]
• Laura Beasley (Illinois). ^[31]
• Mary Beatty (Mississippi and Oregon). ^[32]
• Ida M. Bowman Becks. ^[33]
• Mae E. Profitt Bentley (Rhode Island). ^[34]
• Ella G. Berry (Illinois). ^[35]
• Mary V. Berry (Washington, D.C.). ^[36]
• Kizziah J. Bills (Illinois). ^[37]
• Ethel Cuff Black. ^[38]
• Irene Moorman Blackstone (New York). ^[39]
• Annie Walker Blackwell (Pennsylvania). ^[40]
• Bonnie Thomas Bogle (Oregon). ^[4]
• Rosa Dixon Bowser (Virginia). ^[41]
• Rose Talliaferro Bradic (Rhode Island). ^[42]
• Minnie L. Bradley (Connecticut). ^[43]
• Louise Beatrice Braxton (Maryland). ^[44]
• Hallie Quinn Brown (Ohio). ^[45]
• Ida E. Duckett Brown (New Jersey). ^[15]
• Solomon G. Brown. ^[46]
• Josephine Beall Willson Bruce. ^[26]
• Eva Carter Buckner (California). ^[13]
• Mary E. Cary Burrell (New Jersey). ^[47]
• Nannie Helen Burroughs. ^[48]
• Louisa C. Hatton Crawford Butler (Washington, D.C.). ^[49]
• Marian D. Butler (Washington, D.C.). ^[50]

C

• Bertha Pitts Campbell. ^[51]
• Susan E. Cannon Allen (Illinois). ^[24]
• Jeannette Carter (Washington, D.C.). ^[52]
• Augusta Theodosia Lewis Chissell (Maryland). ^[16]
• Helen E. Christian (New York). ^[6]
• Mary C. Clarke (Illinois). ^[53]
• Carrie Williams Clifford (Ohio). ^[54]
• Mattie E. Coleman (Tennessee). ^[55]
• Maude B. Deering Coleman (Washington, Pennsylvania). ^[56]
• Coralie Franklin Cook. ^[26]
• Helen Appo Cook (Washington, D.C.). ^[57]
• Anna J. Cooper. ^[26]
• Fannie Wilson Cooper (Iowa). ^[58]
• Henrietta Green Crawford (New Jersey). ^[59]
• Ida R. Cummings (Maryland). ^[7]
• Ella Cunningham (New York). ^[60]
• Helen M. Curtis (New York). ^[61]

D

• Ida Clark DePriest (Colorado). ^[62]
• Addie Whiteman Dickerson (Pennsylvania). ^[63]
• Mamie Dillard (Kansas). ^[26]
• Julia Dorsey. ^[46]
• Frederick Douglass. ^[48]
• Virginia Hewlett Douglass. ^[46]

E

• Mary E. Eato (New York). ^[64]
• Elizabeth Piper Ensley. ^[65]

F

• Charlotte Vandine Forten. ^[26]
• Margaretta Forten (Pennsylvania). ^[3]
• Nellie Griswold Francis (Minnesota). ^[66]

G

• Sarah J. S. Garnet (New York). ^[64]
• Irene W. Griffin (Louisiana). ^[67]
• Charlotte Forten Grimké. ^[26]
• Angelina Weld Grimké. ^[3]

H

• 

  Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

  Victoria Clay Haley (Missouri). ^[11]
• Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. ^[68]
• Lugenia Burns Hope (Georgia). ^[3]
• Addie Waites Hunton (New York). ^[69]

J

• Mary E. Jackson (Rhode Island). ^[26]
• Lottie Wilson Jackson (Michigan}. ^[70]
• Anna Louise James (Connecticut). ^[43]
• Hester C. Jeffrey (New York). ^[71]
• Harriet C. Johnson {Pennsylvania). ^[72]
• Mary Jane Richardson Jones (Illinois). ^[73]
• Verina Morton Jones (New York). ^{[26] [64]}

L

• Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin (Pennsylvania). ^{[68] [14]}
• Lucy Craft Laney (Georgia). ^[26]
• Indiana Little (Alabama). ^[74]
• Adella Hunt Logan (Alabama). ^[18]

M

• Victoria Earle Matthews (New York). ^[26]
• Mary A. McCurdy (Indiana). ^[26]
• Rosa Moorman (Ohio). ^[75]
• Gertrude Bustill Mossell (Pennsylvania). ^[3]

P

• Millie Lawson Bethell Paxton (Virginia). ^{[8] [76]}
• Ora Brown Stokes Perry (Virginia). ^{[77] [75]}
• Juno Frankie Pierce (Tennessee). ^{[78] [79] [80] [81]}
• Alice Sampson Presto (Washington). ^[82]
• Lucy Proffitt (Rhode Island). ^[83]
• Harriet Forten Purvis (Pennsylvania). ^[3]
• Harriet Purvis Jr. (Pennsylvania). ^[26]

R

• Harriet Redmond (Oregon). ^[84]
• Sarah Parker Remond. ^[26]
• Naomi Sewell Richardson. ^[85]
• Florida Ruffin Ridley (Massachusetts). ^[86]
• Ruth Logan Roberts (New York). ^[87]
• Charlotte Rollin (South Carolina). ^[3]
• Carrie Barnes Ross (Indiana). ^[88]
• Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (Massachusetts). ^[3]

S

• Maude Sampson (Texas). ^[89]
• Mary Townsend Seymour (Connecticut). ^[43]
• Mary Ann Shadd. ^[68]
• Eliza Pearl Shippen. ^[90]
• Lydia C. Smith (New York). ^[64]
• Rosetta Douglass Sprague. ^[46]

T

• Mary Burnett Talbert (New York). ^[48]
• Mary Church Terrell. ^[48]
• Beatrice Sumner Thompson (California). ^[91]
• Sojourner Truth. ^[3]
• Harriet Tubman. ^[92]

W

• Margaret Murray Washington (Alabama). ^[18]
• Alice L. Thompson Waytes (Massachusetts). ^[93]
• Ida B. Wells (Illinois). ^[94]
• Madree Penn White. ^[95]
• Caroline B. Williams. ^[17]
• Fannie Barrier Williams. ^[26]
• Carrie Whalon. ^[96]

Y

• Estelle Hall Young (Maryland). ^[7]

See also

• African-American women's suffrage movement
• List of American suffragists
• Timeline of women's suffrage in the United States
• Women's suffrage in the United States

References

1. Boyd 2018, p. 29.
2. Sorenson 2004, p. 9.
3. "African American Women and the Nineteenth Amendment". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
4. Dublin, Thomas. "Biographical Sketch of Bonnie Thomas Bogle". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
5. "Woman Suffrage in the Midwest". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
6. Lemen, Emily. "Biographical Sketch of Helen E. Christian, 1879-1930". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
7. Novara, Elizabeth A. "Biographical Sketch of Ida R. Cummings". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
8. Edds, Margaret (February 12, 2021). "Paxton, Millie Lawson Bethell (1875–1939)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
9. Hoskins, Danielle. "Biographical Sketch of Sue M. Wilson Brown, 1877-1941". Biographical Database of Black Woman Suffragists– via Alexander Street.
10. "Letters regarding African American suffrage organization". Bullock Texas State History Museum. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
11. Shea, Neil (2017). "Biographical Sketch of Victoria Clay Haley". Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists– via Alexander Street.
12. "Toward A Universal Suffrage: Profiles of Courage". Central Iowa Community Museum. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
13. Smith, Sode. "Biographical Sketch of Eva Carter Buckner". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
14. "Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin -". Archives of Women's Political Communication. Iowa State University. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
15. Adams, Betty Livingston. "Biographical Sketch of Ida E. Duckett Brown". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
16. Loughlin, Maggie. "Biographical Sketch of Augusta "Gussie" Theodosia Lewis Chissell". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
17. "Colored Women Want the Ballot". The Evening Journal. March 21, 1914. p. 12. Retrieved June 17, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
18. Worthy, Shalis. "The 19th Amendment and Women's Suffrage: Suffrage & Race in Alabama". Huntsville-Madison County Public Library. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
19. Cobbins, Quin'Nita. "Biographical Sketch of Christia V. Daniels Adair". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
20. Hart, Evan Elizabeth. "Biographical Sketch of Osceola Macarthy Adams, 1890-1983". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
21. Davis 1922, p. 80.
22. Hoskins, Danielle. "Biographical Sketch of Teresa Adams". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
23. Bowling, Jean. "Biographical Sketch of Winona Cargile Alexander |". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
24. Davis 1922, p. 73.
25. Wintory, Blake. "Biographical Sketch of Eliza Julia (Brockett or Brackett) Shadd Anderson". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
26. "African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement". Turning Point Suffragist Memorial. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
27. "Biographical Sketch of Libbie (Libby) C. Anthony". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
28. Hewitt, Nancy. "Biographical Sketch of Blanche Armwood". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
29. Boylan, Anne M. (Summer 2019). "Delaware Women's Suffrage Timeline" (PDF). Delaware Historical Society. League of Women Voters. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
30. "Maria Baldwin". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
31. Dobschuetz, Barbara. "Biographical Sketch of Laura Beasley". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
32. Ward, Jean M. "Mary Laurinda Jane Smith Beatty (1834–1899)". Oregon Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
33. Dublin, Thomas. "Biographical Sketch of Ida M. Bowman Becks". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
34. Truppi, Lily; Cottineau, Sacha. "Biographical Sketch of Mae E. Proffitt Bentley". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
35. Materson, Lisa G. "Biographical Sketch of Ella G. Berry". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
36. Lundquist-Wentz, Chelsea. "Biographical Sketch of Mary V. Berry". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
37. Thomas Wells, Brandy. "Biographical Sketch of Kizziah J. Bills". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
38. Boylan, Anne M. "Biographical Sketch of Ethel L. Cuff (Black)". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
39. "Irene Moorman Blackstone -". Archives of Women's Political Communication. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
40. Wilson, Linda D. "Biographical Sketch of Annie Walker Blackwell". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
41. Davis, Veronica Alease. "Biographical Sketch of Rosa L. Dixon Bowser". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
42. Battye, Jilian; Riordan, Katherine. "Biographical Sketch of Rose Talliaferro Bradic". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
43. "What happened in Connecticut with the 19th Amendment Ratification?". League of Women Voters. August 28, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
44. Weinstock, Rebecca F. "Biographical Sketch of Louise Beatrice Braxton". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
45. Borchardt, Jackie; Balmert, Jessie (June 14, 2019). "100 years ago Ohio ratified the 19th Amendment. Here are 6 women who made suffrage reality". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
46. Lundquist-Wentz, Chelsea. "Biography of Mrs. Julia Dorsey, 1850-1919". Alexander Street. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
47. Livingston Adams, Betty. "Biographical Sketch of Mary E. Cary Burrell". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
48. "Four African American Suffragists You Should Know". National Park Foundation. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
49. Wintory, Blake. "Biographical Sketch of Louisa C. (Hatton) Crawford Butler". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
50. Hart, Evan Elizabeth. "Biographical Sketch of Marian D. Butler". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
51. Dublin, Thomas. "Biographical Sketch of Bertha Pitts Campbell". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
52. Keating, James. "Biographical Sketch of Jeannette Carter". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
53. Wilson, Linda D. "Biographical Sketch of Mary C. Beasley Byron Clarke". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
54. Murphy, Mary-Elizabeth. "Biographical Sketch of Carrie Williams Clifford". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
55. Walker, Kobe; Rials, Kalie; Jones, Terriana; Kanu, Maria. "Biographical Sketch of Mattie E. Coleman". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
56. Streeter, Carrie. "Biographical Sketch of Maude B. Deering Coleman". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
57. VanCour, Ciara. "Biographical Sketch of Helen A. Cook". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
58. Hoskins, Danielle. "Biographical Sketch of Fannie Wilson Cooper". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
59. Johnson, James Elton. "Biographical Sketch of Henrietta Green Crawford". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
60. McCune, Sarah Lirley. "Biographical Sketch of Ella Cunningham". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
61. Kearns, Annemarie. "Biographical Sketch of Helen M. Curtis". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
62. Higginbotham, Elizabeth; Romero, Mary, eds. (1997). Women and Work: Exploring Race, Ethnicity, and Class. Vol. 6: Women and Work. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. p. 220. ISBN   9780803950597.
63. Who's who in Colored America. Who's Who in Colored America Corporation. 1942. p. 157.
64. Carrillo, Karen Juanita (October 20, 2022). "Plaque unveiled for African American suffragists in Brooklyn". New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
65. Yaeger, Lynn (October 21, 2015). "The African-American Suffragists History Forgot". Vogue. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
66. "Women's suffrage bill". The Nashville Globe. October 20, 1918. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
67. "Irene Griffin, first black woman to register to vote in Plaquemines Parish, dies at 84". New Orleans Times-Picayune. March 30, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
68. "Five You Should Know: African American Suffragists". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
69. Goodier, Susan; Pastorello, Karen (September 15, 2017). Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State. Cornell University Press. p. 126. ISBN   978-1-5017-1319-4.
70. Sibilla, Michelle; Arbab, Fiana; Humayun, Afaf; Shammami, Narmeen; Kaniaris, Alex. "Biographical Sketch of Charlotte "Lottie" Wilson Jackson, 1854-1914". Biographical Database of Black Woman Suffragists– via Alexander Street.
71. "Hester Jeffrey". Western New York Suffragists: Winning the Vote. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
72. Walton-Hanley, Jennifer. "Biography of Harriet C. Johnson, 1845-1907". Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists. Alexander Street. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
73. Harbour, Jennifer (September 14, 2020). "Mary Jane Richardson Jones, Emancipation and Women's Suffrage Activist". National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
74. Royster, Briana Adline (2019). "Biographical Sketch of Indiana T. Little". Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists. Alexander Street. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
75. Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn (1998). African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1920. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 103. ISBN   978-0-253-21176-7.
76. Edds, Margaret (2020). "Millie Lawson Bethell Paxton (1875–1939)". Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Library of Virginia. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
77. McDaid, Jennifer Davis (October 26, 2018). "Woman Suffrage in Virginia". Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
78. The African-American history of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780–1930: elites and dilemmas, by Bobby L. Lovett, University of Arkansas Press, 1999, p. 232
79. Tennessee Through Time, The Later Years. Gibbs Smith. 2007. pp. 174–. ISBN   978-1-58685-806-3.
80. "Black History Month: J. Frankie Pierce founded school for girls | The Tennessean | tennessean.com". Archive.tennessean.com. February 14, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2015.^{[ dead link ]}
81. "Frankie Pierce & the Tennessee Vocational School for Colored Girls". Ww2.tnstate.edu. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
82. Cobbins, Quin'Nita. "Biographical Sketch of Alice S. Presto". Biographical Database of Black Woman Suffragists. Retrieved May 14, 2022– via Alexander Street.
83. Ramos, Emily; Szeneitas, Sophia. "Biographical Sketch of Lucy Proffitt". Alexander Street. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
84. "Harriet "Hattie" Redmond (1862-1952)". Oregon Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
85. Carson, Tabitha; Northern, Yasmine; Rollins, Perrye; Bowler, Lauryn; Parker, Skylar; Davis, Lundyn (2018). "Biographical Sketch of Naomi Sewell Richardson". Alexander Street . Retrieved November 5, 2024.
86. Zackodnik, Teresa C. (2010). "We Must Be Up and Doing": A Reader in Early African American Feminisms. Broadview Press. pp. 275–276. ISBN   9781460402146.
87. Alexander, Adele Logan. "Roberts, Ruth Logan". Religion and Community. Facts On File, 1997. African-American History Online. Retrieved February 6, 2016. Sourced from Hine, Darlene Clark; Thompson, Kathleen, eds. (1997). Facts on File encyclopedia of Black women in America. New York, NY: Facts on File. ISBN   9780816034246. OCLC   906768602.
88. Nahmias, Leah (March 11, 2020). "The Black Women Suffragists of Indiana". Indy Maven. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
89. "Letters regarding African American suffrage organization". Bullock Texas State History Museum. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
90. Hymes, Makenzie. "Eliza Pearl Shippen". Biographical Database of Black Woman Suffragists– via Alexander Street.
91. "Los Angeles N.A.A.C.P." California Eagle. April 4, 1924. p. 3. Retrieved January 16, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
92. Brown, Tammy L. (August 24, 2018). "Celebrate Women's Suffrage, but Don't Whitewash the Movement's Racism | ACLU". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
93. "Woman's Suffrage". The Crisis. Vol. 4, no. 5. September 1912. p. 215. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
94. "Suffragists in Illinois". Turning Point Suffragist Memorial. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
95. "Biography of Madree Penn White, 1892-1967". Biographical Database of Black Woman Suffragists– via Alexander Street.
96. Morgan, Anita (2020). "We Must Be Fearless": The Woman Suffrage Movement in Indiana. Indiana Historical Society Press. ISBN   978-0-87195-438-1.

Sources

• Boyd, Katherine (Spring 2018). Partial Suffrage in Iowa: 1894 (Thesis). University of Iowa.
• Davis, Elizabeth Lindsay (1922). The Story of the Illinois Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. Chicago – via Hathi Trust.
• Sorenson, Mark W. (2004). "Ahead of Their Time: A Brief History of Suffrage in Illinois". Illinois Heritage. 7 (6). Illinois State Historical Society – via Illinois Periodicals Online.

External links

• Black suffragists