Member-only story
Black Women Led Today’s Fight Against Voter Suppression
Black women consistently account for one of the highest voter rates, of any gender and race subcategory, in U.S. elections. And, from the civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer in the 1960s to the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority today, Black women have long taken the lead in challenging voter suppression and getting out the Black vote.
“The general consensus today among Black women that voting is necessary — not optional — stems from a long history of exclusion,” writes Keisha N. Blain, an associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh and a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, in The Nation. It is for this reason, Blain asserts, that Black women are the backbone of the Democratic electorate.
“From Stacey Abrams, LaTosha Brown, and Aimee Allison to countless others who are diligently working in their communities and on a national level, Black women refuse to sit on the sidelines as we approach one of the most important elections in our nation’s recent history,” Blain writes. “As they have always done, Black women will boldly meet the challenge this November. They will show up, in record numbers, to cast a ballot in the hope of ushering in a new era, without Trump at the helm.”
