Homepage

100 Years of Votes for Women

Home » Resources » Featured Suffragists

Suffrage100MA's Featured Suffragists

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

Florida Ruffin Ridley

By

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 […]

Maria Louise Baldwin

By

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 […]

Sarah Mapps Douglass

By

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 […]

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

By

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. […]

Ida B. Wells

By

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 […]

Alice Paul

By

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 […]

Sojourner Truth

By

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 […]

Jeannette Rankin

By

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 […]