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African American History Since the Civil War. dr. Liz Bryant. Women Leaders…. African-American Female Leadership. There were lots of women who took active roles during this era Did not sit around waiting for men to take care of the situation. Turn-Of-The-Century Women. Many were educated
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African American History Since the Civil War dr. Liz Bryant
African-American Female Leadership • There were lots of women who took active roles during this era • Did not sit around waiting for men to take care of the situation
Turn-Of-The-Century Women • Many were educated • Worked as teachers, journalists
Why Are the Accomplishments of Women Overlooked? • Sexism of the era • Black women faced the “double burden” of racism and sexism • Face many unique issues • HOWEVER, they continue to fight for their rights
Ida B. Wells Background • Daughter of slaves • Parents emphasized education • Trained as a journalist • Worked as a teacher
Ida B. Wells and the Civil Rights Movement • Got involved after being forcibly removed from a train after refusing to sit in the African American car • Sued
Wells’ Activism • Worked as a journalist • Used pseudonym of “Iola” • Discussed conditions of blacks in America
Lynching • Wells’ biggest campaign is against lynching • Gets involved after a friend of hers is murdered
Lynching of African Americans was an all too common occurrence.
Lynching • Common • Popular for people to go to with their families • Nothing was done to the lynchers (townspeople pretended not to know about anything)
Lynching • Justification by whites was that black men were trying to rape white women • Problem with this: • Many relationships between black men and white women were consensual • Many of the people who were lynched were never accused of sex crimes • What happened if a black woman was raped?
Wells and Lynching • Wells was so upset about the murder of her friend that she travelled through the South investigating lynchings • Published her findings • Whites were angry and Wells and threatened her safety
Founders: Margaret Murray Washington and Mary Church Terrell
National Association of Colored Women • “Lifting as we climb”
National Association of Colored Women • Focus: • Job training • Wage equity • Childcare
National Association of Colored Women • Want: • End to lynching • End to segregated transportation • Improved prison conditions
National Association of Colored Women • Support: • Women’s suffrage campaigns
National Association of Colored Women • Influential organization • By 1917, have over 300,000 members
Ida B. Wells • Continues to push for a federal anti-lynching law • Becomes one of the founders of the NAACP
Mary Church Terrell • Daughter of former slaves • Attended Oberlin College • BA • MA • One of the first African-Americans to earn her BA
Mary Church Terrell • Focus on women’s rights • Very disappointed the suffrage movement often excluded African-Americans
Mary Church Terrell • Focus on education • First African-American woman ever appointed to a school board
Mary Church Terrell • Worked as a journalist • Euphemia Kirk
Mary Church Terrell • Founder of the NAACP • She and Wells were the only two women initially invited to join this movement
Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin • Raised in Boston • Educated at private schools
Women’s Era • Ruffin serves as editor from 1890-97
Women’s Era • First newspaper published for and by African-American women • Wanted black women to push for increased rights • Highlighted the accomplishments of black women
National Federation of Afro-American Women • "...we are women, American women, as intensely interested in all that pertains to us as such as all other American women; we are not alienating or withdrawing, we are only coming to the front, willing to join any others in the same work and welcoming any others to join us."
National Federation of Afro-American Women • Later merged into the National Association of Colored Women
New Era Club • Advocacy club for black women
“Ruffin Incident” • 1900 • General Federation of Women’s Clubs • Refused to seat her because of the New Era’s Club all black membership • “…colored women should confine themselves to their clubs and the large field of work open to them there."
