Suffrage: Susan B. Anthony and the Question of Race

Prof. Ann Dexter Gordon is the leading authority on Susan B. Anthony and editor of the Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Gordon served as program consultant and gave an onscreen interview for the 1999 Ken Burns documentary series Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony. Her essay “Taking Possession of the Country” appears in the companion volume to the documentary.

There are unresolved questions to this day about the history of the suffrage movement and its support for and/or inclusion of black women and votes for them, as well as controversy over suffrage for black men coming before women’s suffrage.

"The charge that Susan B. Anthony did not want black women to vote is simply wrong," Gordon has said. "There's lots of evidence to show otherwise. But the idea was out there that day, and it's still out there. And the fact that this specific charge against Miss Anthony is false should not, I think, end the conversation, but rather start one, about race and voting rights for women."

Check out Ann Gordon's insightful, informed, and sophisticated response to Brent Staples’ earlier OpEd on racism in the suffrage movement.

Come join the conversation.

Free and open to public, this event is co-sponsored by The Wood Library.