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Home » Resources » Featured Suffragists

Suffrage100MA's Featured Suffragists

Keep the legacy of the suffragists alive by reading their stories.

Featured Suffragist

September 12, 2022 By Michelle Juralewicz

Learn about other leaders in the movement and important suffrage milestones by visiting our Suffrage Centennial Display Panel Project! Featured Suffragist: Sojourner Truth

Filed Under: Featured Suffragists, Museum Display Panel

Florida Ruffin Ridley

January 30, 2022 By Kevin Gilnack

Biography Florida Ruffin Ridley was the daughter of one of the first Black judges in Massachusetts, George Ruffin, and Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, a suffragist, journalist, and prominent civil rights activist in Boston and nationally. Along with Maria Baldwin, Ridley was one of the first Black women teachers in the greater Boston area. Working with […]

Filed Under: Abolition and the Suffrage Movement, Featured Suffragists

Maria Louise Baldwin

September 13, 2021 By Kevin Gilnack

Maria Louise Baldwin

Biography Born in Cambridge, MA, Maria Louise Baldwin overcame racial prejudice to become an acclaimed teacher, principal and school master with a 40 year career, and was active in the civil rights, suffrage and women’s rights movements. Baldwin was the only Black woman to serve as principal of a school in New England at that […]

Filed Under: Abolition and the Suffrage Movement, Featured Suffragists

Sarah Mapps Douglass

September 9, 2021 By Kevin Gilnack

Biography Sarah Mapps Douglass (1806-1882)! An educator, abolitionist, writer, and public lecturer, Douglass was born to active abolitionists. In 1831, Douglass helped found the Female Literary Association (FLA), a group of African American women dedicated to improving their skills and sense of community. She was one of the FLA’s leaders, and the FLA was the […]

Filed Under: Abolition and the Suffrage Movement, Featured Suffragists

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

August 31, 2021 By Kevin Gilnack

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

Biography  An African-American suffragist, publisher, journalist, and civil rights leader, in 1893 Ruffin founded the Woman’s Era, the first national newspaper published by and for African-American women. After the civil war, Ruffin served on several charities to support Southern Blacks, later participating in multiple clubs and service organizations in Boston. In 1893, with Ida B. […]

Filed Under: Abolition and the Suffrage Movement, Featured Suffragists

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

September 25, 2020 By Kevin Gilnack

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Biography In the 1860s, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a free, Black, young woman working as a teacher in Pennsylvania when her home state of Maryland passed a law stating that ANY African American who returned to Maryland would be sold into slavery. This prompted the already ambitious educator to devote herself as an organizer […]

Filed Under: Abolition and the Suffrage Movement, Featured Suffragists

Ida B. Wells

February 22, 2018 By Alice Janigro

Ida B. Wells 1862-1931 “I think Ida B. Wells should be remembered as an African-American woman who battled both racism and sexism at a time when it was extremely dangerous to speak out… She used her gift of writing, speaking and organizing to help shed light on injustice.  She was extremely brave and held steadfast […]

Filed Under: Abolition and the Suffrage Movement, Featured Suffragists

Alice Paul

June 22, 2017 By Alice Janigro

Alice Paul 1885-1977 “I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.” -Alice Paul, 1972 interview. Early Life Born on January 11, 1885 in Moorestown, New Jersey, Alice Paul was a committed and passionate leader in the Women’s […]

Filed Under: Featured Suffragists

Sojourner Truth

January 6, 2017 By Alice Janigro

Sojourner Truth c.1797-1883 Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree) was both an abolitionist and a champion of the women’s rights movement, exposing the important intersection of gender and race. As one of the only black women of the time who spoke for women’s rights, she is most well known for her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech […]

Filed Under: Abolition and the Suffrage Movement, Featured Suffragists

Jeannette Rankin

November 27, 2016 By Admin

Jeannette Rankin 1880-1973 Jeannette Rankin is best known as the first woman elected to Congress. She ran in 1916 to represent her home state of Montana as a progressive Republican and served from 1917-1919. Her younger brother Wellington, later to hold statewide office in Montana himself, financed her campaign. Unusually, she ran for and won […]

Filed Under: Featured Suffragists

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Suffragists Support #StopAsianHate

March 2021

Dear Suffrage100MA Community,

Suffrage100MA stands with the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community and grieves for the eight victims recently murdered in Georgia, six of whom were women of Asian descent.  Carry the victims in your hearts, light candles for them, learn about their lives:  Daoyou Feng, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Paul Andre Michels, Soon Chung Park, Ziaojie Tan, Delaina Yaun and Young Ae Yue.

The words of this song from the 1949 musical “South Pacific” are more applicable than ever:

You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

“You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught” was a highly controversial song, but thankfully, ultimately included in the show. The song was written to address racism against Asians and all people.  The character Lt. Cable, a Caucasian man who has fallen in love with an Asian woman, is distressed by the prejudice against interracial couples and racism in general, sang the song after saying the words “…racism is not born in you! It happens after you’re born…”

James Taylor recorded the song in Nov. 2020.

We must work to end the racism that is “…drummed in your dear little ear…”

In 2020, hate crimes against Asian Americans are up almost 150 percent.  Discrimination against the Asian community has existed in this country since Asians arrived in the late 19th century.  Asians faced discrimination against dignity and equality, and were denied citizenship and the right to vote until the middle of the 20thcentury. After the 19th Amendment was adopted extending the vote to women, discriminatory laws prevented Asian Americans, Native Americans and African Americans from voting for decades and today the crisis for voter accessibility is growing.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “In a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election, and grounded in a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, legislators have introduced well over four times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to roughly this time last year. Thirty-three states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 165 restrictive bills this year (as compared to 35 such bills in fifteen states on February 3, 2020).”

Suffrage100MA is committed to increasing accessibility to the ballot and inspiring voters to exercise their right to vote by sharing the history of those who fought bravely, sometimes losing their lives, for decades and across centuries, to secure the vote.  Let us each recognize the power and importance of voting to express one’s voice

On behalf of the Suffrage100MA Board of Directors –
With deep appreciation to all of you for being on this journey with us,

Fredie Kay
Founder & President, Suffrage100MA