Black Women & Women's Suffrage: Understanding the Perception of the Nineteenth Amendment Through the Pages of the Chicago Defender

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Volume 29 Issue 1

2022

Black Women & Women's Suffrage: Understanding the Perception Black Women & Women's Suffrage: Understanding the Perception

of the Nineteenth Amendment Through the Pages of the Chicago of the Nineteenth Amendment Through the Pages of the Chicago

Defender Defender

Tamar Anna Alexanian

Children’s Law Center of California

Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjgl

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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation

Tamar A. Alexanian,

Black Women & Women's Suffrage: Understanding the Perception of the Nineteenth

Amendment Through the Pages of the Chicago Defender

, 29 MICH. J. GENDER & L. 63 (2022).

Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjgl/vol29/iss1/3

https://doi.org/10.36641/mjgl.29.1.black

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BLACK WOMEN & WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE:

UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE

NINETEENTH AMENDMENT THROUGH THE

PAGES OF THE

CHICAGO DEFENDER



amar



nna



lexanian*

INTRODUCTION

Susan B. Anthony once famously stated, “I will cut off this right arm

of mine before I will ever work for or demand the ballot for the Negro

and not the woman.”

The racism of many early suffragettes has been well

documented and discussed;

Black suffragettes and other suffragettes of

color

were, at best, relegated to the margins of the movement

and, at

* Skadden Fellow, Children’s Law Center of California. For their support and sugges-

tions, I am grateful to Professors Ellen Katz and Emily Prifogle, Julia Adams, Anna

Belkin, Hannah Bredar, Clara Butler, Brendan Flynn, Becca Garfinkel, Jonathan Ka-

gan-Kans, and Meredith Kahn. Thank you also to the editors of the Michigan Journal

of Gender & Law for the energy and guidance that they brought to this Article. And,

above all, thank you to the work of suffragists and community organizers who came

before us.

1. E

LEANOR FLEXNER,CENTURY OF STRUGGLE:THE WOMEN’S RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN

THE

U.S. 144 (photo. rept. 1972) (1959).

. See, e.g.

,FAYE E. DUDDEN,FIGHTING CHANCE:THE STRUGGLE OVER WOMAN

SUFFRAGE AND BLACK SUFFRAGE IN RECONSTRUCTION AMERICA 3 (2011); LOUISE

MICHELE NEWMAN,WHITE WOMEN’S RIGHTS:THE RACIAL ORIGINS OF FEMINISM

IN THE

UNITED STATES 60-72 (1999); ANGELA Y. DAVIS,WOMEN,RACE &CLASS 61-

73 (1981);

see generally

Jen McDaneld,

White Suffragist Dis/Entitlement: The

Revo-

lution

and the Rhetoric of Racism

, 30 LEGACY 243 (2013) (discussing racism in Susan

B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s newspaper,

Revolution

. See generally

CATHLEEN D. CAHILL,RECASTING THE VOTE:HOW WOMEN OF COLOR

TRANSFORMED THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT (2020) (discussing the often-overlooked

stories and importance of Chinese, African American, Native, and Hispanic women in

the suffrage movement).

. See

MARTHA S. JONES,VANGUARD:HOW BLACK WOMEN BROKE BARRIERS,WON

THE

VOTE, AND INSISTED ON EQUALITY FOR ALL 16 (2020) (“These efforts correct a

record made more than a century ago by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton,

Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Ida Husted Harper, who dubbed themselves

the

historians

of the early women’s movement. Between 1881 and 1922, they published the six-vol-

ume, fifty-seven-hundred-page

History of Woman Suffrage

. But they told only one

part of the story and in that relegated Black women to the margins. Later historians

relied upon these same volumes, producing new studies that, regretfully, repeated old

omissions.”) [hereinafter J

ONES,VANGUARD].

64 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

worst, scorned and turned away by white suffragettes.

Moreover, part of

white suffragettes’ strategy for passage of the Nineteenth Amendment was

based on racist appeals to white men; white suffragettes claimed that pas-

sage of the Nineteenth Amendment would help keep white voters in the

majority and, ultimately, would help uphold white supremacy.

Against

this backdrop, Black women

—and much of the Black community more

generally—still supported and fought for the passage of the Nineteenth

Amendment.

Recent legal and historical scholars have been dedicated to studying

the often-overlooked and instrumental role that Black women played in

the Suffrage Movement and Black enfranchisement.

This Article seeks

to look at the coverage by Black—largely male—journalists at the

Chi-

cago Defender

in the ten years preceding and proceeding the passage of

the Nineteenth Amendment.

In doing so, this Article hopes to better

understand the ways that some Black community members understood

and viewed the Nineteenth Amendment and how that perception

changed. Although in hindsight we understand that the Nineteenth

Amendment was not the liberating feat for Black women that it was for

white women, what does Black journalistic coverage in the period imme-

diately before and after its passage tell us about the perception of the

Nineteenth Amendment and Black women’s enfranchisement at the

time?

The methodology of this research differs from those used in other

historical research regarding Black women’s suffrage. Many historians

have focused on understanding Black women’s suffrage through studying

5. ROSALYN TERBORG-PENN,AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE

VOTE, 1850-1920, 10 (1998);

see id

. See

Sarah Gordon,

White Supremacy and the Suffrage Movement

,WOMEN AT THE

CENTER (Aug. 7, 2020), [https://perma.cc/RVU8-QEMJ].

. See

Martha S. Jones,

What the 19th Amendment Meant for Black Women

,POLITICO

(Aug. 26, 2020, 4:30 AM), [https://perma.cc/ER7C-C36D] [hereinafter Jones,

What

the 19th Amendment Meant

. See generally

ROSALYN TERBORG-PENN,AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE

STRUGGLE FOR THE VOTE, 1850-1920 (1998).

. See generally

JONES,VANGUARD,

supra

note 4; CAHILL,

supra

note 3.

10. According to journalist Ethan Michaeli, “No newspaper played a greater role in shap-

ing American politics and demographics during the 20th century.” Monica Davey &

John Eligon, The Chicago Defender,

Legendary Black Newspaper, Prints Last Copy

N.Y.

IMES (July 9, 2019), [https://perma.cc/J8V8-HUXT]. For in-depth information

about the influence of the

Defender

across the nation, see generally ETHAN MICHAELI,

HE DEFENDER:HOW THE LEGENDARY BLACK NEWSPAPER CHANGED AMERICA

FROM THE AGE OF THE PULLMAN PORTERS TO THE AGE OF OBAMA (2016).

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 65

individual women’s stories:

In her groundbreaking and well-received

book

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and

Insisted on Equality for All

, legal historian Martha Jones says that “by

recounting the lives of some of the many Black women who engaged in

political fights, the picture of a whole comes into view.”

These histories

rely on a large variety of historical documents left behind by, and about,

individual suffragists and events to gain an understanding of “the picture

of a whole.”

This Article takes a different approach: it looks deeply at

only one set of primary documents—articles printed in the

Chicago De-

fender

—to better understand the changes and patterns in community

perception revealed through journalistic coverage. This is not counter to

the important work of these other historians, who have helped recover

the overlooked stories of suffragists of color. Instead, this Article seeks to

further our understanding of these stories through a different medium.

In Part I, this Article considers the historical legal framework sur-

rounding Black women’s suffrage, especially looking at the intersection

of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments and the sub-

sequent case law. This history sets forth the legal landscape in which Black

women’s suffrage efforts took place and, of particular interest to this Ar-

ticle, in which the

Chicago Defender

was being published.

In Part II, this article discusses the

Chicago Defender

’s coverage,

readers, and influence. Appreciating the

Defender

’s carefully curated

sense of self is important to understanding both its writers and its readers.

Eventually boasting itself to be “The Mouthpiece of 14 Million Peo-

ple,”

the

Defender

cultivated a reputation for publishing hard-hitting

. See

CAHILL,

supra

note 3, at 4 (focusing on the stories of six women of color); JONES,

ANGUARD

supra

note 4, at 14 (“

Vanguard

gathers up Black women’s stories in the

spirit of Alice Walker’s 1983 essay collection,

In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens

There, Walker uncovered, waded through, and immersed herself in the lives of the

women who came before her.”).

12. J

ONES,VANGUARD,

supra

note 4, at 16.

13. Historians have used documents from newspapers, court manuscripts, tracts, books,

memoirs, images, scrapbooks, and letters to construct a holistic and rounded historical

understanding of the movement

. See

JONES

,supra

note 4, at 14; CAHILL,

supra

note

3, at

283-327.

. Newspapers:

The Chicago Defender,

The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords

, PBS,

[https://perma.cc/CK6D-YYB5] (last visited Feb. 6, 2022) [hereinafter

Newspapers

The Chicago Defender]. The Black American population was likely around 14 million

by 1940.

1.2 Million Blacks Not Counted in 1940 Census, Records Reveal

,DENV.

OST (May 20, 2012), https://www.denverpost.com/2012/05/20/1-2-million-blacks-

not-counted-in-1940-census-records-reveal/.

66 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

articles and having a “racially high-minded purpose.”

The Black com-

munity, like any other community, is not a monolith, and the patterns

and understandings that this Article extrapolates from the pages of the

Chicago Defender

cannot speak for all Black people, even when the news-

paper itself claims to be the mouthpiece for all Black Americans.

Still,

the

Chicago Defender

was the most-read Black newspaper across the

country, and its historical significance is undebated.

Therefore, the ar-

ticles published by the

Defender

necessarily expose well-received ideas cir-

culating amongst Black communities during the time; at the very least,

published articles indicate that people were thinking or talking about par-

ticular topics in particular ways while lack of publication implies, if not

outright indicates, the opposite. The

Defender

’s massive readership and

longevity could only exist if the newspaper was believed to be reputable

and if the messages on its pages were valued by its readers.

Thus, this

historical contextualization reveals the scope and magnitude of the asser-

tions that come from the articles discussed in Part III.

In Part III, this Article analyzes articles published by the

Chicago

Defender

between 1910 and 1930. In particular, this Article tracks the

newspaper’s shifting use of mockery, coverage of Black women’s organiz-

ing efforts, and discussion of women’s suffrage during this time. While

the pages of the

Defender

between 1910 and 1914 often used mockery

or humor to discuss women’s suffrage and suffragettes, this derisive tone

largely vanished from the

Defender

’s pages by 1914, replaced by praise

for women’s suffrage and suffragettes and, eventually, by criticism for

those who did not believe in women’s suffrage. The articles reveal a sim-

ilar trend regarding women’s organizing efforts. Although the articles

published beginning in 1910 announce debates regarding the issue of

women’s suffrage, by the mid-1910s, women’s suffrage was rarely “de-

bated,” replaced instead by articles and notices about lectures and citizen-

ship classes to prepare the female citizenry for the vote. By 1919, coverage

15. ROI OTTLEY,THE LONELY WARRIOR:THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROBERT S. ABBOTT 98

(1955).

. See Newspapers:

The Chicago Defender,

supra

note 14.

17. Alan D. DeSantis,

A Forgotten Leader: Robert S. Abbott and the

Chicago Defender

from 1910-1920

,23JOURNALISM HIST. 63, 65 (1997);

see, e.g.

,MICHAELI,

supra

note

10.

18. Just four years after its founding, the

Defender

was boasting a readership larger than

Chicago’s other black papers combined.

Id.

at 27. Further, even though the newspaper

went completely digital in 2019, it continues to reach a large audience and has never

stopped publishing since it began in 1905.

See

Brigit Katz,

The ‘

Chicago Defender

,’

an Iconic Black Newspaper, to Release Its Last Print Issue

,SMITHSONIAN MAG.(July

9, 2019), [https://perma.cc/P4Q4-LMKV].

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 67

of these meetings sharply declined, replaced almost completely with con-

cern over and political activism against Jim Crow laws. Taken together,

these shifts reveal the changing atmosphere and sentiments of Black men,

who made up a large part of the journalists and readers of the

Defender

While much of the current research regarding Black women’s suffrage

concerns Black women’s perceptions and oft-forgotten work, this Article

discusses Black men’s changing perception of women’s suffrage. It reveals

Black men’s early sexism, then support, and finally silence as the fight

against Jim Crow absorbed the Black male citizenry and consciousness.

Further, the Article’s use of this 20-year period—between 1910 and

1930—is important. The

Defender

went through a significant shift in

1910, when the newspaper became a “clearly focused organ for racial ad-

vancement.”

And between 1910 and 1920, the

Defender

defined and

ushered in a new era of Black journalism.

In attempting to extrapolate

shared perceptions through articles in the

Defender

, those articles pub-

lished after the newspaper gained its reputation for racial advancement

are most relevant to this research. They also allow for more accurate pe-

riod comparisons, since the newspaper maintained this reputation

throughout the studied period. In doing this sort of analysis, this Article

hopes to add to the current research so we better understand how the

Black community thought about the Nineteenth Amendment and Black

women’s suffrage at that time.

ISTORICAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUFFRAGE

In its original form, the U.S. Constitution

did not guarantee the

right to vote.

An individual’s right to vote in a federal election was,

therefore, dependent on their state granting them the right to do so.

19. DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 65.

.Id.

at 63.

21. The only mentions of voting in the Constitution appear in Article I, Section 2, Clause

1 (“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second

Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the

Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legisla-

ture”) and Article I, Section 4 (“Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such

Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators”).

22. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed this in

United States v. Cruikshank

, 92 U.S. 542,

555 (1875) (“The Constitution of the United States has not conferred the right of

suffrage upon any one . . . . “).

. See

Joshua A. Douglas,

The Right to Vote Under State Constitutions

, 67 VAND.L.

REV. 89, 93-94 (2014); Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162, 172 (1874) (“When the

Federal Constitution was adopted, all the States, with the exception of Rhode Island

and Connecticut, had constitutions of their own. These two continued to act under

68 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

Historically, every state has limited the right to vote to a subset of their

population.

Although voter disenfranchisement remains a nationwide

issue,

the U.S. has been expanding the franchise since the Civil War.

This Article will focus primarily on Black enfranchisement and women’s

enfranchisement through the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth

Amendments, and the ways that this country historically continued to

disenfranchise Black and women voters after the passage of these amend-

ments.

Black Enfranchisement

Passed in 1868 and 1870 respectively, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth

Amendments extended rights previously denied to Black men.

The Fif-

teenth Amendment explicitly addressed the voting rights of Black Amer-

icans, stating, “The right . . . to vote shall not be denied or abridged by

the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous

condition of servitude.”

During Reconstruction and a handful of years

their charters from the Crown. Upon an examination of those constitutions we find

that in no State were all citizens permitted to vote. Each State determined for itself who

should have that power.”).

24. The most common limitations involved property ownership, length of residency, age,

race, and sex.

See

JUSTIN MOELLER &RONALD F. KING,REMOVAL OF THE PROPERTY

QUALIFICATION FOR VOTING IN THE UNITED STATES:STRATEGY AND SUFFRAGE 1

(2019) (regarding the history of property qualifications for voting); Eugene D. Mazo,

Residency and Democracy: Durational Residency Requirements from the Framers to

the Present

, 43 FLA.ST.U.L.REV. 611, 614-31 (2016) (regarding the history of resi-

dency requirements in America); W

ENDELL W. CULTICE,YOUTH’S BATTLE FOR THE

BALLOT:AHISTORY OF VOTING AGE IN AMERICA 2-18 (Contributions in Pol. Sci. Ser.

No. 291, 1992) (regarding the history of voting restrictions by age); C

ORRINE M.

CCONNAUGHY,THE POLITICS OF SUFFRAGE EXTENSION IN THE AMERICAN STATES:

ARTY,RACE, AND THE PURSUIT OF WOMEN’S VOTING RIGHTS 3-4 (2004) (regarding

the history of racial restrictions by states); Sandra Day O’Connor,

The History of the

Women’s Suffrage Movement

, 49 VAND.L.REV. 657, 662-65 (1996) (regarding the

history of women’s suffrage on the state level). Some limitations, such as felony disen-

franchisement, continue to exist today.

See

KATHERINE IRENE PETTUS,FELONY

DISENFRANCHISEMENT IN AMERICA:HISTORICAL ORIGINS,INSTITUTIONAL RACISM,

AND MODERN CONSEQUENCES 1-4 (LFB Scholarly Publishing 2005) (2004).

. See

Carrie Levine, Pratheek Rebala, & Matt Vasilogambros,

New Data Tracks Polling

Place Locations for 37 States,

Article in

Barriers to the Ballot Box

,THE CTR. FOR PUB.

NTEGRITY (DEC. 13, 2021), [https://perma.cc/7ARJ-8H5S].

26. S

AMUEL ISSACHAROFF,PAMELA S. KARLAN,RICHARD H. PILDES,&NATHAN PERSILY,

HE LAW OF DEMOCRACY:LEGAL STRUCTURE OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS 16 (Foun-

dation Press 5th ed. 2016) [hereinafter I

SSACHAROFF et al.].

27. U.S.

ONST.amend. XIV; U.S.CONST.amend. XV.

28. U.S.

ONST. amend. XV, § 1.

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 69

thereafter, Black male voter turnout was high across the country.

For

example, in nearly every Southern state, a majority of adult Black males

voted in the 1880 presidential election.

However, by the beginning of

the twentieth century, nearly all Black voters had been stripped from the

voting rolls in the South.

Many Southern states used a variety of tactics

to accomplish this, including through force

and the use of restrictive

voting qualifications.

Congress’s unwillingness to enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth

Amendments played an important role in the decline of Black enfran-

chisement during this time. For example, Congress refused to investigate

allegations of Black exclusion from Alabama’s 1894 Senate election.

Congress also refused to enforce Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amend-

ment, which provided for a reduction in the size of a state’s House dele-

gation if the state discriminated in voting.

And while Congress was fail-

ing to protect Black voters, some Southern congressmen made efforts to

outright repeal the Fifteenth Amendment.

The government’s failure to protect the rights of Black voters went

beyond the failures of Congress: the Supreme Court also played a pivotal

role in undercutting Black enfranchisement.

29. ISSACHAROFF et al.,

supra

note 26 at 43;

see

Daniel B. Jones, Werner Troesken, &

Randall Walsh,

Political Participation in a Violent Society: The Impact of Lynching

on Voter Turnout in the Post-Reconstruction South

, 129 J. DEV.ECON. 29, 34-35

(2017) [hereinafter Daniel B. Jones];

see also

HANES WALTON JR., SHERMAN C.

UCKETT,&DONALD R. DESKINS JR., THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ELECTORATE:A

TATISTICAL HISTORY (2012).

30. J. Morgan Kousser, T

HE SHAPING OF SOUTHERN POLITICS:SUFFRAGE RESTRICTIONS

AND THE

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ONE-PARTY SOUTH, 1880–1910, 15 (1974).

. See

Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.,

Principles and Prejudice: The Supreme Court and Race in

the Progressive Era Part 3: Black Disenfranchisement from the KKK to the Grandfa-

ther Clause

, 82 COLUM.L.REV. 835, 847 (1982).

. See id.

(“Racial lynching, mob violence, terrorism by white vigilante groups, cheered

on by the press and Southern demagogues vying with each other in their rhetoric of

race chauvinism, created a savage state of racial intimidation by the turn of the cen-

tury.”).

. See id.

at 842;

see generally

PAUL LEWINSON,RACE,CLASS, AND PARTY (1932) (detail-

ing the history of Black voter disenfranchisement from the late 19th through the early

20th centuries).

34. S.

EP.NO. 447 (1896); S. REP.NO. 447, Part 2 (1896).

35. I

SSACHAROFF et al.,

supra

note 26, at 43.

. See

Kimberly A. Hamlin,

How Racism Almost Killed Women’s Right to Vote

,WASH.

OST (June 4, 2019), [http://perma.cc/M7ZG-53E5]; JONES,VANGUARD,

supra

note

4, at 150;

Senator Vardaman’s Amendment Loses

, Chi. Def., Mar. 21, 1914, at 2.

70 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

Fueled by the 1872 election for Louisiana’ governor, antagonism be-

tween Southern Democrats and the federal government—led by Repub-

licans—erupted, most notably in the Colfax Massacre of 1873.

When

President Grant sent federal troops to support the Republican candidate,

white Southerners formed the “White League,” a heavily-armed insur-

gency similar to the Ku Klux Klan.

Fearful that the White League would

seize control of the regional government, a Black militia took control of

the local courthouse.

Shortly thereafter, a mob of white men sur-

rounded the courthouse.

Even after the Black militia surrendered, the

white rebels murdered many of the Black men, ultimately killing between

60 and 150 Black individuals.

While the Louisiana courts charged nine

white men with violating the Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871,

the

Supreme Court dismissed all indictments.

The Court sent a clear mes-

sage: they would only protect Black voters against state sponsored disen-

franchisement efforts.

Then, in 1875, the Supreme Court struck down sections of the 1870

Enforcement Act, claiming that they were beyond congressional power.

Simultaneously, the Court upheld a variety of state efforts to deny other

aspects of citizenship to Black men.

Finally, in 1903, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether

blatant state disenfranchisement of Black Americans was constitutional

under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. In

Giles v. Harris

, the

Court refused to provide relief to Jackson W. Giles, a Black man whose

37. Danny Lewis,

The 1873 Colfax Massacre Crippled the Reconstruction Era

MITHSONIAN MAG. (Apr. 13, 2016), [http://perma.cc/V2EG-2H2Z]. For more in-

formation about the Colfax Massacre,

see generally

CHARLES LANE,THE DAY

FREEDOM DIED:THE COLFAX MASSACRE,THE SUPREME COURT, AND THE BETRAYAL

RECONSTRUCTION (2008); LEEANNA KEITH,THE COLFAX MASSACRE:THE

UNTOLD STORY OF BLACK POWER,WHITE TERROR, AND THE DEATH OF

RECONSTRUCTION (2008).

38. Lewis,

supra

note 37.

39. Bill Decker,

Colfax Riot or Massacre

,THE ADVOC. (Mar. 7, 2013, 9:32 AM),

[https://perma.cc/F7BQ-82QN].

.Id

41. Lewis,

supra

note 37. Only three white men were killed.

Id.

.Id.

43. United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1875).

. See

United States v. Harris, 106ԜU.S. 629 (1883) (holding that the Fourteenth Amend-

ment applies only to state action, not individual action that deprives one of equal pro-

tection and due process under the law).

45. United States v. Reese, 92 U.S. 214 (1875).

. See, e.g.

, Williams v. Mississippi, 170 U.S. 213 (1898) (upholding state efforts to deny

Black men the right to participate on juries).

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 71

voting registration was denied in his home state of Alabama.

Ultimately,

this case showed Americans that the Supreme Court would not intervene

in the disenfranchisement of Black Americans.

Southern states began utilizing a wide variety of techniques to disen-

franchise Black voters, including poll taxes,

grandfather clauses,

liter-

acy tests,

and white primaries.

In fact, by 1904, every ex-Confederate

state had adopted some version of a poll tax.

Every state in the Deep

South

adopted a new state constitution between 1890 and 1908 and

every newly-adopted constitution included at least one of these disenfran-

chising methods.

White Southerners also did not shy away from using

force and violence to scare Black voters from the polls.

These various

disenfranchisement efforts were widely successful, and this ad hoc pattern

continued into the 1940s and beyond.

Women’s Suffrage

Both feminist and legal scholars often cite the 1848 Women’s Rights

Convention in Seneca Falls, New York as the beginning of the women’s

rights movement.

At first, the women’s movement was hopeful that the

47. Giles v. Harris, 189 U.S. 475 (1903).

48. Schmidt,

supra

note 31, at 845.

.Id.

at 836; ALEXANDER KEYSSAR,THE RIGHT TO VOTE:THE CONTESTED HISTORY OF

DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES 112 (rev. ed. 2009).

50. K

EYSSAR,

supra

note 49, at 111-12; Schmidt,

supra

note 31, at 842.

51. White primaries were primary elections (largely in the Southern states) where only

white voters were permitted to participate.

See

Keyssar,

supra

note 49, at 247; Armand

Derfner,

Racial Discrimination and the Right to Vote

, 26 VAND.L.REV.523, 524

(1973);

R. V

OLNEY RISER,DEFYING DISFRANCHISEMENT:BLACK VOTING RIGHTS

ACTIVISM IN THE JIM CROW SOUTH, 1890-1908 (2010).

52. I

SSACHAROFF et al.,

supra

note 26, at 74.

53. These states included Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.

See

MICHAEL PERMAN,STRUGGLE FOR MASTERY:DISFRANCHISEMENT IN THE SOUTH,

1888–1908 (2001).

54. I

SSACHAROFF et al.,

supra

note 26, at 55.

. See

Daniel B. Jones,

supra

note 29, at 37.

56. Derfner,

supra

note 51, at 524.

. See

Carolyn S. Bratt,

Introduction to the Sesquicentennial of the 1848 Seneca Falls

Women’s Rights Convention: American Women’s Unfinished Quest for Legal, Eco-

nomic, Political, and Social Equality

, 84 KY. L.J. 715, 715 (1995). The 1848 Conven-

tion in Seneca Falls is considered the beginning of First Wave Feminism, which is the

movement discussed throughout this Article. For information regarding the Waves, see

ORY COOKE DICKER,AHISTORY OF U.S. FEMINISMS (2008). For a critical analysis

of how the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention became mythologized in history, see

LISA TETRAULT,THE MYTH OF SENECA FALLS:MEMORY AND THE WOMEN’S

SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT, 1848-1898 (2014).

72 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

Fourteenth Amendment would enfranchise them.

However, the writers

of the Fourteenth Amendment made sure to include the word “male” in

Section 2 of the Amendment, a devastating blow to the suffragists.

Eliz-

abeth Cady Stanton, a prominent white suffragist, even stated, “If that

word ‘male’ be inserted, it will take us a century at least to get it out.”

And, generally speaking, Stanton’s sentiment was correct: the addition of

the word “male” made it difficult for women to secure the right to vote.

Western territories were the first to extend the franchise to women.

After the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 (with the word

“male” included in Section 2), suffragists hoped that Congress would use

its Section 5 powers to eliminate gender from state voting laws.

Con-

gress denied direct responsibility: they told suffragists to take the matter

to the courts.

In 1874, the Supreme Court ruled the Fourteenth Amendment did

not extend the right to vote to women.

Virginia Minor, a U.S. citizen

58. Nina Morais, Note,

Sex Discrimination and the Fourteenth Amendment: Lost His-

tory

, 97 YALE L.J. 1153, 1159 (1988).

. See id.

60. S

USAN WARE,WHY THEY MARCHED:UNTOLD STORIES OF THE WOMEN WHO

FOUGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO VOTE 20 (2019).

. See

Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162, 178 (1874). Not only was Virginia Minor’s

claim rejected unanimously by the Supreme Court, but popular opinion also consid-

ered Minor’s request for relief frivolous. An editorial excerpt from

The Nation

wrote,

“The opinion, delivered by the Chief-Justice, is of course conclusive, and what will

probably strike most lawyers about it, is wonder that the point should ever have been

raised. Every one in the country knows that the Fourteenth Amendment was not

adopted for the purpose of giving women the right to vote, and the argument made to

support the claim is only a shade less puerile than that which is made by some women’s-

rights agitators from the Fifteenth Amendment abolishing ‘slavery and involuntary ser-

vitude.’ Considering the crowded condition of the Supreme Court docket, and the vast

number of really important cases which are delayed by such suits as this, it seems as if

a more peremptory way of dealing with them would be better, and as if giving up

precious time to the consideration of such arguments as we have just referred to might

possibly lay the Court open to the charge of a ‘delay of justice’ provided against by a

much older bill of rights than the Fourteenth of Fifteenth Amendment.”

Image 71 of

Blackwell Family Papers: Lucy Stone Papers, 1759-1960; Miscellany.; Notebooks; 1

of 2

,LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, [https://perma.cc/PNY5-GKZ8].

62. Wyoming extended the franchise to women in 1869 followed by Utah in 1870, Wash-

ington in 1883, and Colorado in 1893.

See

O’Connor,

supra

note 24, at 662-63;

see

generally

REBECCA MEAD,HOW THE VOTE WAS WON:WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN THE

WESTERN UNITED STATES, 1868-1914 (2004).

63. Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment broadly authorizes Congress to advance the

protections of due process, equal protection, and the privileges and immunities of cit-

izenship.

See

ISSACHAROFF et al.,

supra

note 26, at 23.

. See id.

65. Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162, 178 (1874).

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 73

from the state of Missouri and a follower of Susan B. Anthony, brought

a case against Reese Happersett, the registrar who rejected her application

to register to vote.

At that time, Missouri did not allow women to

vote.

It was widely believed that women lacked the capacity to vote.

Still, Virginia Minor argued that voting was a privilege and immunity of

citizenship and, as a citizen of the United States and Missouri, she was

wrongly denied her right to vote.

Unfortunately, the Court did not agree.

Although it agreed that

women were clearly citizens, the Court noted that women had been citi-

zens long before the Fourteenth Amendment was passed.

Since women

were not eligible to vote when the Constitution was enacted, the Privi-

leges and Immunities Clause, it held, was not meant to include the right

to vote. The Court also noted that Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amend-

ment clearly contemplated that states would deny suffrage to some peo-

ple

; rather than prohibiting disenfranchisement, the Amendment

merely enacted a penalty when states did so.

Unanimously, the Supreme

Court upheld Missouri’s voting legislation.

Although women won voting rights in some states, there was no na-

tional movement on the issue until 1918, when Congress approved the

Nineteenth Amendment and sent it to the states for ratification.

The

Amendment was rejected by some Southern states but received approval

in the West, Northeast, and Midwest.

It also received approval in Ken-

tucky, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

The Nineteenth

Amendment was enacted on August 18, 1920 and overturned

Minor v.

.Minor

, 88 U.S. at 178.

67. In order to file her lawsuit, Virginia Minor was required by Missouri law to get her

husband’s signature.

See

ISSACHAROFF et al.,

supra

note 26, at 23.

68. Some other widely-held beliefs included: women were childlike and were therefore in-

capable of voting; allowing women to vote was a threat to family cohesion and mar-

riage; women should only be involved in domestic affairs; and women’s suffrage was a

threat to masculinity.

See

Marina Koren,

Why Men Thought Women Weren’t Made

to Vote

,ATLANTIC (July 11, 2019), [https://perma.cc/XMQ7-DSG9];

Says Modes

Hurt Suffrage

,N.Y.TIMES (July 28, 1913), at 1.

69. Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162, 165 (1874).

.Minor

, 88 U.S. at 171.

.Minor

, 88 U.S. at 170.

.Minor

, 88 U.S. at 174.

73. This penalty only punished denying voting rights to men; there was no penalty for

denying voting rights to women.

Minor

, 88 U.S. at 174-75.

74. Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162, 178 (1874).

75. U.S. CONST. amend. XIX.

76. I

SSACHAROFF et al.,

supra

note 26, at 27.

.Id.

74 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

Happersett

Since its passage, there has been “virtually no litigation”

generated by the Nineteenth Amendment.

Where Did That Leave Black Women?

Feminist scholars often cite the passage of the Nineteenth Amend-

ment as the end of the First Wave of the Women’s Rights Movement,

and the Second Wave did not begin until the 1960s.

So, where did that

leave Black women?

Not a single Black woman was in attendance at the Seneca Falls

Convention.

Unfortunately, this foreshadowed the deep-seated racial

fissures that would plague the movement.

When Black men became en-

franchised, white suffragettes were enraged. In a letter to the editor of the

New York Standard

, Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote:

The representative women of the nation have done their utter-

most for the last thirty years to secure freedom for the negro,

and as long as he was lowest in the scale of being, we were

willing to press

his

claims; but now, as the celestial gate to civil

rights is slowly moving on its hinges, it becomes a serious ques-

tion whether we had better stand aside and see ‘Sambo’ walk

into the kingdom first . . . In fact, it is better to be the slave of

an educated white man, than of a degraded, ignorant black

one.

Susan B. Anthony apparently felt similarly, stating, “I will cut off

this right arm of mine before I will ever work for or demand the ballot

for the Negro and not the woman.”

These women, the leaders of the

movement,

turned towards racism, classism, and elitism in the hopes of

securing the vote for women, either forgetting or ignoring all the women

.Id.

at 26.

.Id.

at 28.

. See, e.g.

,DICKER,

supra

note 57, at 6.

81. D

AVIS,

supra

note 2, at 57 (“[T]here was not a single Black woman in attendance. Nor

did the convention’s documents make even a passing reference to Black women.”).

82. Willie J. Epps, Jr. & Jonathan M. Warren,

Sheroes: The Struggle of Black Suffragists

59 Judges’ J. 10, 10 (Summer 2020).

83. 2 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE 94-95 (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony,

& Matilda Joslyn Gage eds., 1887).

84. FLEXNER,

supra

note 1, at 144.

. See

JONES,VANGUARD,

supra

note 4, at 16 (“ . . . Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady

Stanton . . . who dubbed themselves

the

historians of the early women’s movement.”).

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 75

they were leaving behind. These suffragettes claimed that women’s suf-

frage was justified on the grounds that white, native-born women could

help secure the political dominance of “Americans” against those vying

for their rights.

When the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, Black

women’s fight was not over.

II.

HE FAR-REACHING INFLUENCE OF THE

CHICAGO DEFENDER

“The

Defender

recorded our expansion of democracy—the

degree to which African Americans were locked out of the pro-

cess. The

Defender

recorded the injustice and then became

part of the process of opening up opportunity and making

people more aware of the civil rights issues that were at stake

...The

Defender

represents the best of American journalism,

which has always had a function not just of reporting, but also

of advocacy and having a point of view.”

—Senator Barack

Obama, PBS Interview 2005

What Was the Chicago Defender Covering?

The first issue of the

Chicago Defender

came out on May 5, 1905.

Although it would become known for stories about racial injustice, seg-

regation, and white-on-black crime, it started out by focusing primarily

on local gossip and special interest stories.

Early on, the paper reported

on every church group, fraternal organization, and business, often refer-

encing individuals by name to stick with the maxim “Names Make

News.”

At this time, the

Defender

was very much a local newspaper.

86. White suffragists did not limit themselves to putting down Black men and women.

They also targeted Chinese immigrants, uneducated individuals, and criminals. Much

of the rhetoric used then reflects white supremacist language and fear.

87. Jones,

What the 19th Amendment Meant

supra

note 7; Olivia B. Waxman,

‘It’s a

Struggle They Will Wage Alone.’ How Black Women Won the Right to Vote

,TIME,

[https://perma.cc/GT8Y-JH6T].

88. MICHAELI,

supra

note 10, at xviii.

89. For the first issue, Abbott only printed 300 copies. Each copy was handbill size and

only four pages long.

See

DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 64.

.Id.

76 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

Things began to change when the

Defender

published an exposé on

muckraking crusades in 1909.

The newspaper’s founder, Robert S. Ab-

bott, quickly realized that the key to the

Defender

’s success was reporting

on stories that underscored a “racially high-minded purpose.”

By doing

so, he hoped to uplift his readership and, in turn, his race.

In 1910, due

in part to changes with the newspaper staff, the

Defender

became a

“clearly focused organ for racial advancement.”

Between 1910 and

1920, the

Defender

defined and ushered in a new era of Black journal-

ism.

The

Defender

also set itself apart by publishing material and using

language that no other Black newspaper dared to publish or use. This

language “represented unapologetic [B]lack pride, dignity, and assertive-

ness.”

The

Defender

used the word “Race” to denote Black people; for

example, “The Race Needs a Real Leader” and “Emmett Jay Scott is

found to be a great asset to the Race.”

While other dailies often placed

“colored” in parentheses after the names of Black Americans, the

De-

fender

used parentheses only to indicate when someone was white.

To-

gether, this messaging told Black Americans that the

Chicago Defender

was a publication by and for them, a place where they could find news

about their communities that was often ignored or overlooked by white-

owned daily newspapers.

92. OTTLEY,

supra

note 15, at 98;

see Mothers Taking Innocent Daughters to Houses of

Ill Fame: To Play Piano

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 26, 1910, at 1.

93. O

TTLEY,

supra

note 15, at 1-16.

.Id.

at 9.

95. DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 65.

.Id.

at 63.

97. J

AMES R. GROSSMAN,LAND OF HOPE:CHICAGO,BLACK SOUTHERNERS, AND THE

GREAT MIGRATION 75 (1989).

. The Race Needs a Real Leader

,CHI.DEF., Jan. 9, 1915, at 8; Ralph W. Tyler,

The

Present Crisis Produced Real Man: Emmett Jay Scott Is Found to Be a Great Asset to

the Race

,CHI.DEF., Jan. 19, 1918, at 10;

see also Appeal to Chicago Professional Men

That Are Prostituting the Race

,CHI.DEF., Jul. 29, 1911, at 7;

Enterprise of the Race

Press

,CHI.DEF., Dec. 9, 1911, at 3;

Praise for the Gallant Soldiers: Surgeon-General

Says Members of the Race in the Army Are Seldom Sick

,CHI.DEF., Nov. 9, 1912, at

1. The Chicago Defender archives indicate that this phrase—”the Race”—was used in

over 33,000 articles.

. See Personals

,CHI.DEF., Oct. 28, 1911, at 3 (“Dr. and Mrs. Stone (white)”);

Convict

White Soldier on Cowardice Charge

,CHI.DEF., Aug. 30, 1919, at 1 (“Samuel H Stone

(white)”);

Asks Washington to Vote Down Suffrage

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 27, 1920, at 20

(“Mary G. Kilbreth (white)”).

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 77

. The Readers & Influence of the Chicago Defender

The

Defender

struggled to build a readership in its early years.

100

Abbott solicited subscriptions at churches, city pool halls, barbershops,

bars, cabarets, and restaurants; much to the amusement and mockery of

the three other Black newspapers in Chicago,

101

he even solicited door to

door in his neighborhood.

102

Unlike many of the other newspapers at the

time, Abbott did not have his own resources to subsidize the

Defender

and, instead, depended entirely on the support of the community.

103

Sub-

scribers made up the newspaper’s largest income stream, which left the

Defender

“beholden to the whole community, rather than one family,

business concern, political party, or interest group . . . .”

104

This also

meant that the pages of the

Defender

necessarily had to be filled with

topics of interest and widely-supported opinions in order to maintain and

gain readership.

The

Defender

did not have its first regular newsstand sales until

1912.

105

But even before the newspaper hit the regular newsstand, the

Defender

boasted a readership of twenty-five thousand, reaching approx-

imately one out of ten Black Chicagoans.

106

Shortly thereafter, the

De-

fender

became a nation-wide must-read,

107

and Pullman Porters played

an integral role.

108

Since the majority of Black folks continued living in

the South,

109

the

Defender

’s continued success and self-sufficiency de-

pended, in part, on tapping into readers there. The porters were in regular

contact with the Black communities in the South; their knowledge of

100. DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 64.

101

.Id.

; Robert S. Abbott,

Defender Had No Easy Time in Its Youth

,CHI.DEF., June 7,

1930, at 22.

102. MICHAELI,

supra

note 10, at 24.

103

.Id.

at 21.

104

.Id.

105

. See

DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 64.

106. Abbott calculated this figure by multiplying the actual number of papers sold (between

four thousand and six thousand) by the number of times he expected the paper was

passed from one person to another (a common way to share news at the time). These

numbers indicate that the

Defender

had a larger readership than all of the city’s other

Black newspapers, combined.

See

MICHAELI,

supra

note 10, at 27.

107. Copies of the

Defender

were even being sold in London, Monrovia, Liberia, and the

Philippines.

Id.

at 50.

108

. See Railroad Men Great Help to

Chicago Defender, CHI.DEF., Feb. 13, 1915, at 2.

109. Isabel Wilkerson,

The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration

,SMITHSONIAN

MAG., [https://perma.cc/X2D8-F7M4].

78 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

these communities—both in the big cities and in small rural towns

110

—

allowed the

Defender

to reach these readers.

111

Still, authorities in the

South viewed the

Defender

as a “radical” and “dangerous” publication

and sometimes tried to seize the newspaper.

112

It was not uncommon for

the newspaper to be banned from the newsstands completely.

113

Those

brave enough to publicly read or distribute the

Defender

in the 1920s

were often harassed or threatened with death.

114

Black newspapers in the

South did not dare publish the radical things that were written in the

Chicago Defender

;

115

if they did, they likely would have been killed or

run out of town.

116

But the

Defender

dared to say such things, and Black

communities in the South began to view the

Chicago Defender

as a news-

paper they could depend on and trust.

117

By the 1920s, two-thirds of the

Defender

’s readers were in the Deep South.

118

The combination of dili-

gent workers, loyal patrons, politically-active railroad porters, and dedi-

cated traveling entertainers allowed the

Defender

to deeply penetrate the

South and, ultimately, communities across the country.

119

By the 1920s, the

Defender

boasted a circulation of over 250,000,

120

making it the most-read Black newspaper in the country.

121

The Pullman

Porters did much more than expand the

Defender

’s readership: they also

110. In 1919, the

Defender

was sent to over 1,542 towns across the region. The following

towns were purchasing over 100 weekly copies: Fry’s Mill, AR; Bibsland, LA; Tunica,

MS; Yoakum, TX; and Palatka, FL. DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 65.

111. M

ICHAELI,

supra

note 10, at 32.

112

.Id.

; Brian Thornton,

The “Dangerous” Chicago Defender: A Study of the Newspaper’s

Editorials and Letters to the Editor in 1968

, 40 Journalism Hist. 40, 40 (2014).

113

Thornton,

supra

note 112, at 40.

114

.Id.

;MICHAELI,

supra

note 10, at 77.

115. For example,

see Father and Three Sons Assassinated for Raising the First Cotton,

News Never Reached World From Texas

,CHI.DEF., Oct. 30, 1915, at 1 (“Women,

get your guns ready: the men lack backbone. Sharpen anything that will leave its mark

and prepare. Prepare to strike the blow.” and “[C]all the white fiends to the door and

shoot them down.”).

116. Thornton,

supra

note 112, at 40.

117

.Id.

118

.Id.

119. DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 65.

120. These numbers do not accurately capture the readership of the

Defender

, since many

people used informal modes of paper circulation, including borrowing and communal

reading. Borrowing was common amongst friends, families, and church groups and

allowed communities to save money. Communal reading was primarily done in South-

ern communities at churches, barbershops, and saloons. One individual would publicly

orate the newspaper, primarily to a group of illiterate community members. These in-

formal circulation methods likely increased readership to nearly one million in the years

before 1920.

Id.

at 65-66.

121

.Id.

at 70.

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 79

expanded the newspaper’s news network. Soon, the

Defender

was report-

ing on news from all over the country and, occasionally, around the

world.

122

It was the newspaper that Black Americans could—and did—

call their own.

Although the

Chicago Defender

was undoubtedly a Chicago news-

paper, its far-reaching influence and readership demonstrated that the

scope of the newspaper was much larger. The magnitude of this reach

may best be encapsulated by the newspaper’s role in the Great Migra-

tion.

123

Between 1916 and 1917, the Black population in the Midwest

increased drastically as Black Americans from Mississippi, Alabama, Ar-

kansas, and Louisiana made their way North.

124

Even though other Black

newspapers included stories about migration, the

Defender

became “the

undisputed champion of the migration cause,” unabashedly printing sto-

ries to encourage the exodus

125

through a “migration campaign.”

126

Poet

Carl Sandburg once wrote that, “The

Defender

more than any other one

agency was the big cause of the ‘Northern fever’ and the big exodus from

the South.”

127

Similarly, the U.S. Department of Labor admitted that in

certain parts of the country, the

Defender

was likely more effective in

commandeering labor than all other agents were put together.

128

This exodus not only expanded both the

Defender

’s circulation and

impact, it also illustrates the far-reaching influence and readership that

the newspaper had already achieved.

129

The Wilson administration ap-

pointed a special advisor to produce an extensive report on the causes and

122. MICHAELI,

supra

note 10, at 50;

see, e.g.

Coast of Liberia is Shelled by a German

Submarine

,CHI.DEF., Apr. 20, 1918 at 1;

Philippines Are Rich in Relics Scientist

Says

,CHI.DEF., Dec. 22, 1923 at 11;

Cuba to Have First Hanging in 19 Years

,CHI.

EF., Aug. 8, 1925 at A1.

123. The National Archives describes the Great Migration in the following way: “The Great

Migration was one of the largest movements of people in United States history. Ap-

proximately six million Black people moved from the American South to Northern,

Midwestern, and Western states roughly from the 1910s until the 1970s. The driving

force behind the mass movement was to escape racial violence, pursue economic and

educational opportunities, and obtain freedom from the oppression of Jim Crow.”

The

Great Migration (1910-1970)

,NAT’L ARCHIVES, [https://perma.cc/GWT4-A6R3].

124. Rockford, Illinois saw an increase from 500 to 1,500; in 1910, Detroit’s Black popu-

lation was just under 6,000 and increased to over 35,000 by 1919. It is estimated that

over 400,000 Black Americans left the South during this time. M

ICHAELI,

supra

note

10, at 76.

125. DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 70;

see Predicts Exodus of Race

,CHI.DEF., Feb. 19, 1916,

at 1;

Race Labor Leaving

,CHI.DEF., Feb. 5, 1916, at 1;

The Exodus

,CHI.DEF., Sept.

2, 1916, at 1;

Savannah Alarmed Over Labor Exodus

,CHI.DEF., Oct. 14, 1916, at 3.

126. DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 66.

127. F

LORETTE HENRI,BLACK MIGRATION:MOVEMENT NORTH 1900-1920 63 (1975).

128. DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 66;

see id.

129

. See

DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 69.

80 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

effects of the Great Migration.

130

For his report, the advisor tracked the

Defender

’s “booming circulation” and discovered that in some Southern

states, “the paper sold out on the day it arrived. Copies were passed

around until they disintegrated. In one town . . . they reported that read-

ing

The Defender

conferred the impression of being ‘intelligent’; in an-

other place, even old men who were illiterate made a point of carrying a

copy under their arms.”

131

In total, the

Chicago Defender

was a newspaper that prided itself on

being an organ for racial advancement, publishing articles that were

widely popular and hugely influential amongst the largest Black reader-

ship in the country. Though the

Defender

’s readers were diverse,

132

they

were proud to call the newspaper their own. Considering the newspaper’s

meager beginnings, the success it achieved could only be possible with the

support of a large readership. Though the newspaper could not literally

serve as “the mouthpiece of 14,000,000 people,”

133

the articles it pub-

lished had to be of interest to a large portion of its readership; it could

not boast such a large readership and such a mighty reputation otherwise.

And this suggests that the

Defender

’s staff, believing their audience to be

Black Americans across the entire country, were writing about popular

and prominent issues that were of interest to the masses. Thus, studying

articles published in the

Defender

between 1910 and 1930—during the

heyday of the newspaper’s influence—can reveal the wishes, aspirations,

and thoughts of both its journalists and its devoted Black American read-

ers.

130. MICHAELI,

supra

note 10, at 74.

131

.Id.

at 74-75.

132. The specifics regarding the

Chicago Defender

’s readership are uncertain, since the ma-

jority of the readership supposedly never formally subscribed to the newspaper. Still,

the newspaper was popular in both the North and the South, among both the literate

and illiterate populations. Although some could afford a regular subscription, those

who were less well-off cannot be discounted as possible readers, since the newspapers

were often passed around within a community.

See

DeSantis,

supra

note 17, at 65-66.

133. C

HI.DEF., Mar. 11, 1922, at 1 (“THE MOUTHPIECE OF 14,000,000 PEOPLE”);

see also Shall He Be

Our Alderman?

,CHI.DEF., Feb. 10, 1912, at 1 (“A vote for Edw. H. Wright for al-

derman is a duty and should be a pleasure for every race loving man in Chicago.”).

139

. See

MICHAELI,

supra

note 10, at 24.

140. Alfred Anderson,

The Man—Not the Party

,CHI.DEF., Nov. 4, 1922, at 1.

141

. Article 12—No Title

,CHI.DEF., Jul. 13, 1912, at 7.

142. Mr. Arnold,

Lexington, Mo., Notes: And a Word From Nearby Towns

,CHI.DEF.,

Nov. 5, 1910, at 1.

143

.Id.

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 83

dialogue printed in 1911, ridiculed women’s lack of decisiveness, stating,

“He—Why do you say women would never buy votes? She—Because

they couldn’t exchange them.”

144

Although buying votes was often and

repeatedly scorned throughout the pages of the

Defender

145

this dialogue

does not commend women for “never buy[ing] votes.”

146

Similarly, an-

other article noted that “careless female voters” often accidentally en-

closed shopping lists or other personal items in their woman’s club bal-

lots, sometimes forgetting to include their ballots altogether.

147

Although

this article does not directly mention women’s suffrage, the emphasis on

women’s inability to correctly use their ballots for women’s clubs does

not speak highly of their impending suffrage abilities; instead, the article

mocks women as forgetful at best and inept at worst. Another article in

1912 mocked women’s inability to set aside personal pettiness, projecting

that a female delegate in 1916 would refuse to vote as required by her

delegation because the candidate had “gone and had her hat trimmed just

like mine” and, therefore, the delegate “wouldn’t vote for [her] even if

there were no other women in the world to vote for.”

148

These tropes

were not unique to Black women; some of these jokes were even from

non-Black sources and were simply reprinted in the pages of the

De-

fender

, illustrating how sexist tropes transcended racial lines.

149

Furthermore, some of these mocking articles targeted suffragettes

specifically. In the early 1910s, the stereotypes regarding suffragettes were

no more creative than current stereotypes regarding feminists. For exam-

ple, suffragettes were often synonymous with spinsters: In a 1912 article,

after being assured by an athletic young man, a suffragette stated, “You

know, I’m a spinster and a suffragette, but there certainly are times when

a man is a mighty good thing to have around”

150

; another article, a mock-

dialogue printed in 1911, reads, “She—Have you reflected in your advo-

cacy of woman suffrage of the danger to your party? He—What’s that?

She—That out of mere force of habit, all the old cats would scratch the

144

.The Reason

,CHI.DEF., May 6, 1911, at 7.

145

. See

Mr. Arnold,

supra

note 142.

146

.Id.

147

. Curious Ballots of Women: Shopping Lists Among Other Things Put in Envelopes by

Careless Female Voters

,CHI.DEF., June 17, 1911, at 4.

148

. In 1916

,CHI.DEF., Aug. 10, 1912, at 4.

149

. See The Suffragette

,CHI.DEF., Sept. 3, 1910, at 4A (reprinted from

Lippincott’s Mag-

azine

);

The Reason

supra

note 144 (reprinted from the

Princeton Tiger

);

A Happy

Married Life

,CHI.DEF., Jul. 13, 1912, at 8 (reprinted from

Harper’s Weekly

);

Man

Gets a Bouquet

,CHI.DEF., Jan. 27, 1912, at 2 (reprinted from

New York Press

150

. Man Gets a Bouquet

supra

note 149.

84 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

ticket?”

151

Suffragettes also had a reputation for cooking poorly

152

and

spending an extensive time away from home.

153

Once again, these stere-

otypes were common in Black and white communities alike.

However, by 1913 many of the punchlines in the

Defender

had

shifted. Articles mocking suffragettes declined and then disappeared com-

pletely. The articles that persisted often mocked individuals who did not

believe that women should have the right to vote. For example, a humor-

ous 1912 article titled, “The ‘Superior’ Sex” included the following ex-

change between Miss Belinda and the man she employed to help with her

garden:

“The polls ain’t decent for women. I’ve said it before, and I say

it again, women folks ain’t got no business in such a dirty

place.”

“Where is the voting place in this town?” asked Miss Belinda.

“Well, since the old town hall burned down we’ve been votin’

in the Oakland district school.”

“Oh, that’s where your daughter teaches. Dear me, you must

hate to have Amanda in such a dirty place so much of the

time.”

154

Here, the man said that the polls were no place for women, stating that

the polls were “such a dirty place.”

155

Tongue-in-cheek, Miss Belinda

slyly pointed out that the dirty polling place in question is, in fact, the

school where his daughter teaches, which the man apparently did not

consider to be “too dirty” as long as his daughter was engaging in stereo-

typically feminine work.

156

To further illustrate the article’s tone, the

writer placed the word “Superior” from the article’s title in quotation

marks

157

; although men have long been considered the “superior sex,” the

151

. A Cat-astrophe

,CHI.DEF., May 27, 1911, at 2.

152

. See Article 6—No Title

,CHI.DEF., Apr. 12, 1913, at 6 (“I’m married now and I’m

going to get some good home cooking. How do you know, she may be suffragette?”).

153

. See Seemed to Fill the Bill: Young Suffragette Appeared to the Youth’s Mother to Be

Suitable as His Wife

,CHI.DEF., Oct. 21, 1911, at 7 (a conversation between a mother-

in-law and bride-to-be: “‘What time do you expect to come in at night?’ ‘O, anywhere

from 12 to 3 in the morning.’”).

154. Ernest Wollett,

The “Superior” Sex

,CHI.DEF., Oct. 5, 1912, at 6.

155

.Id.

156

.Id.

157

.Id.

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 85

quotation marks here suggest that the writer did not consider men to be

superior and, in fact, that the man in the dialogue was the butt of the

joke.

A 1913 article with a similar sentiment said, “‘It’s all very well for

educated women to vote,’ said an ardent anti to Mrs. Belmont, ‘but think

how terrible it would be if your cook had a vote.’ ‘He has,’ replied Mrs.

Belmont with a smile.”

158

Here, the ardent anti obviously did not con-

sider that Mrs. Belmont’s cook was a man, who already was enfranchised.

Ultimately, the ardent anti’s argument fell apart since—as Mrs. Bel-

mont’s smile suggested—the ardent anti would not suggest that male

cooks should not have the right to vote. In these articles, Miss Belinda

and Mrs. Belmont deflated common arguments used against women’s

suffrage. And, in both, the “antis” appeared foolish when the suffragettes

used their arguments against them. This shift by the

Defender

corre-

sponded with women’s enfranchisement in Illinois; in June of 1913, the

Illinois Suffrage Act was signed into law and allowed all women to vote

for president and local officers.

159

As such, the articles that the

Defender

published reflected changing sentiments in the Black community about

women’s suffrage more generally.

The language used in the

Defender

also highlights this change: while

the word “suffragette” appeared in eleven articles in 1912 and thirteen

articles in 1913, it only appears in two or three articles per year between

1914 and 1920.

160

After 1920, the word “suffragette” appears in one ar-

ticle in 1924 and then disappears from

Defender

’s pages altogether for

nearly two decades.

161

This shift in language, however, does not corre-

spond with a lack of interest in suffrage. In 1912 and 1913, the majority

of the articles that used the word “suffragette” did so in a mocking or

joking manner.

162

However, as the sentiments surrounding women’s suf-

frage shifted, so did the language used to discuss suffrage supporters. For

158

. He Had a Vote

,CHI.DEF., May 31, 1913, at 7.

159. Grace Wilbur Trout,

Side Lights on Illinois Suffrage History

, 13 J. ILL.STATE HIST.

OC’Y 145, 167 (1920).

160. However, 1919 is an exception; the word “suffragette” does not appear in any articles

during that year.

161. The 1941 article discusses how Ethiopian Empress Mennen “has been studying the

suffragette movement.”

Empress Plans Reforms for her Ethiopia

,CHI.DEF., May 17,

1941, at 2.

162

. See, e.g.

A Happy Married Life

,CHI.DEF., July 13, 1912, at 8 (a man remarks on his

marriage to a suffragette);

Article 6 – No Title

,CHI.DEF., Apr. 12, 1913, at 6 (joking

about the cooking skills of suffragettes);

Editorial Article 1–No Title

,CHI.DEF., Apr.

19, 1913, at 4 (characterizing a woman’s reaction to voting);

In Their Flats

,CHI.DEF.,

Dec. 14, 1912, at 2 (describing having a suffragette in the home);

Where He Might

86 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

example, Ida B. Wells, a prominent Black woman involved in the suffrage

movement, was rarely called a suffragette; instead, one 1913 article re-

ferred to Wells as “our prominent race and club leader”

163

while another

article called her “The Modern Joan Arc.”

164

The

Defender

spoke simi-

larly of the Black community’s support for women’s suffrage: in one 1913

article, the

Defender

said, “It is not too much to say the women will need

protection many times at the polls and they will find no better champions

of their rights than the man of color,”

165

while a 1916 article stated, “the

wise thing for our people . . . to do is to support solidly the first amend-

ment for woman’s suffrage that comes along.”

166

One 1915 blurb made

the shift clear: when discussing the women’s suffrage movement, the ar-

ticle stated, “Let the good work go on, we are with the women right or

wrong.”

167

Although Black leaders of the women’s movement—includ-

ing Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell—could have been called suf-

fragettes, the movement away from this word indicated a community-

wide shift. It was no longer noteworthy when someone believed in

women’s suffrage because the Black community already believed in and

was fighting for votes for women. Although the Black community was

initially susceptible to the negative stereotypes associated with suffragettes

and the women’s movement more generally, it soon came to understand

the value of women’s suffrage to their communities, and the coverage in

the pages of the

Defender

reflected this change.

Understanding Women’s Suffrage through

Black Women’s Organizing Efforts

The earliest record of social clubs

168

discussing women’s suffrage

within the pages of the

Defender

is from an article published on February

Have Been

,CHI.DEF., June 14, 1913, at 7 (describing a man’s encounter with a suf-

fragette);

Why A Man Likes A Dog: Of Course There Are Other Reasons, But These

Are the Ideas of the Suffragette Lady

,CHI.DEF., Jan. 6, 1912, at 6 (describing the

obedient characteristics men like about dogs).

163

.Article 9–No Title

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 22, 1913, at 8.

164

. Marches in Parade Despite Protests

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 8, 1913, at 1.

165

. Women at the Polls

,CHI.DEF., Aug. 2, 1913, at 7.

166

. Ohio’s Heirloom

,CHI.DEF., Dec. 23, 1916, at 6.

167

. Editorial Article 3—No Title

,CHI.DEF., Oct. 2, 1915, at 8.

168. Social clubs were formed primarily in the 1920s and played a key role in the history of

Black America. These clubs typically began informally and, later, became more prom-

inent. Janita Poe & Tribune Staff Writer,

Role of Social Clubs Changes with Times

HI.TRIB., Feb. 9, 1994, [https://perma.cc/5DL2-JNUC].

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 87

12, 1910.

169

The article, found on page 3, stated that “[c]olored men and

women alike were invited” to a “colored woman’s suffrage mass meeting”

in New York.

170

More articles announcing meetings and debates ap-

peared in 1911 and 1912. For example, on April 8, 1911, the

Defender

announced an address at the Chicago Standard Literary Society of Olivet

Baptist Church entitled, “Social Unrest in Relation to the Women’s Suf-

frage Movement.”

171

That same month, another social club heard a

speech titled, “Shall Women Vote?” by a “renowned critic” of women’s

suffrage.

172

Although the content of these meetings was not reported in

the

Defender

, the titles and speakers indicate that many of these early

discussions were not in favor—or, at least, were skeptical—of women’s

suffrage.

In 1912 and 1913, messaging surrounding these conversations and

speeches shifted slightly; while some continued to argue for both sides,

many articles indicated an increasingly positive reaction to women’s suf-

frage. For example, in an article published on March 30, 1912, the

De-

fender

reported that Honorable Julius F. Taylor, president of the Colored

Press Bureau “put the question of votes for women before the bureau and

. . . it was unanimously decided to favor and advocate the proposition.”

173

The following year in Baltimore, the

Defender

reported that Bishop L.J.

Coppin declared his support for women’s suffrage.

174

Formal debates regarding women’s suffrage show a similar trend. For

example, in Indiana in 1911, a social club held a debate called, “Resolved,

That Women Should Have the Right to Vote.”

175

The debate included

two men arguing for women’s suffrage and two men arguing against

women’s suffrage. Although the result was “seven to three in favor of the

affirmative side,” the

Defender

also noted that “[B]y the way, there were

three ladies and one mere man on the judges’ bench. Is there not a ques-

tion that arises in your mind as to the outcome of the decision?”

176

The

reporter’s use of the word “mere” to describe the one man on the judge’s

bench signals the reporter’s belief in the unfairness of the judgment: the

ruling must have been unfair because most of the judges were women. In

169. It is likely that earlier articles existed. However, available archival information does not

currently go back farther than 1910.

170

. Here and There

,CHI.DEF., Feb. 12, 1910, at 3.

171

. See Mr. Jerome Barlow to Speak at Olivet

,CHI.DEF., Apr. 8, 1911, at 1.

172. C.R. Williams,

South Side Notes

,CHI.DEF., Apr. 15, 1911, at 2.

173

. The Colored Press Bureau

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 30, 1912, at 6.

174

. Bishop Coppin Favors Woman Suffrage

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 1, 1913, at 1.

175. Irene Hickman,

Direct from the Bend: Society News and Doings From the Benders

HI.DEF., Dec. 23, 1911, at 3.

176

.Id.

at 3.

88 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

comparison, at a 1913 debate in Wisconsin, two women deliberated the

same topic against two men; although “[t]he judges gave their decision as

a tie . . . the unanimous consent of the audience was that the [women]

won.”

177

Although this article was published only two years later and the

outcome—a tie—seems less favorable to women’s suffrage, the reporter

does not comment on—or dismiss—the judges’ votes based on their sex.

Moreover, the “unanimous consent of the audience” was in favor of

women’s suffrage.

Soon thereafter, the debates and conversations dropped off and were

largely replaced with women’s suffrage clubs and general educational

meetings. For example, Ida B. Wells founded the Chicago Alpha Suffrage

Club in 1913.

178

After its founding, news about and announcements

from the Alpha Suffrage Club frequently appeared on the pages of the

Defender

. The club met every Wednesday,

179

and meetings included

studying politics,

180

meeting with politicians,

181

preparing to “get out the

vote,”

182

and demonstrating the use of voting machines.

183

Other Black

women’s suffrage organizations appeared across the country.

184

In the years leading up to the Nineteenth Amendment, Black

women’s organizing efforts and club discussions, as reported in the

De-

fender

, also shifted. By 1917, women’s suffrage was rarely, if ever, “de-

bated.” Instead, knowledgeable women involved in the suffrage move-

ment gave lectures on the topic.

185

Many of these lectures also began

focusing on how women’s suffrage would particularly impact Black

women and the Black community.

186

Social clubs ran citizenship classes

and lectures to prepare women for their newly acquired or impending

177. Luna M. Scott,

Front Page 5—No Title

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 22, 1913, at 1.

178. W

ARE,

supra

note 60, at 101.

179. Meetings sometimes shifted to bimonthly during the summer.

See Alpha Suffrage

Club

,CHI.DEF., Sept. 12, 1914, at 5.

180. K.J. Bills,

Clubs and Societies: The Alpha Suffrage Club

,CHI.DEF., Aug. 23, 1913, at

181

. Alpha Suffrage Club,

CHI.DEF., Sept. 12, 1914, at 5;

Alpha Suffrage Club

,CHI.DEF.,

Feb. 6, 1915, at 3.

182

.Alpha Suffrage Club

,CHI.DEF., Apr. 3, 1915, at 3.

183

. Alpha Suffrage Club Banquet

,CHI.DEF., Nov. 22, 1913, at 4.

184

. See

JONES,VANGUARD,

supra

note 4, at 283.

185

. See Doings Down Along the Jersey Shore

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 31, 1917, at 8.

186

. See id.

at 8 (“Mrs. Nelson’s lecture was concise and practical, bringing out such features

of this great question of ‘Votes for Women,’ which are peculiar to the Race.”); Kathe-

rine Kent Lambert,

Birmingham, Alabama

,CHI.DEF., Nov. 6, 1920, at 13 (“After

business, the discussion of suffrage as it affects the Negro Woman…”).

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 89

civic responsibility.

187

Some held meetings to instruct women on how to

188

These meetings also served as a time for women to register

together or, in some instances in the South, to attempt to register.

189

Just before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, these meet-

ings occurred much less frequently. This is unsurprising, since the passage

of the Nineteenth Amendment indicated nationwide support for

women’s suffrage. However, this decline also corresponded with a change

in suffrage efforts and conversations within the Black community. As the

Nineteenth Amendment became inevitable, the Black community shifted

efforts towards combating Jim Crow laws that kept Black men and

women alike from the polls. In fact, the Alpha Suffrage Club did not

report a single meeting in the

Defender

in 1919, the year before the pas-

sage of the Nineteenth Amendment. The sharp decline in women’s suf-

frage meetings, lectures, and discussions corresponded both with this

community-wide change and understanding of Black suffrage.

The Shift from Women’s Suffrage to Jim Crow

It was unsurprising to the Black community when racial tensions

arose in the women’s suffrage movement. The

Defender

reported on sev-

eral clashes between Black and white suffragettes. For example, after the

1913 Women’s Suffrage Parade, the

Defender

reported that “Mrs. Ida B.

Wells-Barnett . . . refused to be ‘Jim Crowed’ in the suffrage parade in

Washington D.C.” and, instead, took her place with the other (white)

Illinois delegates.

190

A year later, another article started by saying, “As was

187

. See Yonkers Notes

,CHI.DEF., May 25, 1918, at 2 (“Since the women of New York

state have obtained the right to vote citizenship classes have been formed . . .”); Lam-

bert,

supra

note 186, at 13 (“Part of the afternoon was devoted to the discussion of …

Woman Suffrage, also … on Citizenship.”) (quotation marks omitted).

188

. Republican County Chairman Jacob A. Livingston Addresses the League

,CHI.DEF.,

May 25, 1918, at 3.

189. One such instance was reported by the

Defender

on November 6, 1920 in Alabama.

Lambert,

supra

note 186, at 13 (“The members decided to go down in a body to reg-

ister Thursday morning. They did, but were turned away, not being allowed to register.

Think of leading women of the race over 300 strong.”).

190

.Article 9–No Title

supra

note 163, at 8;

see also Marches in Parade Despite Protest,

supra

note 164

at 1 (“Mrs. Barnett marched with the Illinois delegation . . .”); R.W.

Thompson,

News Notes of the Nation’s Capital

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 29, 1913, at 5 (“Mrs.

Ida Wells Barnett … marched with the Illinois delegation . . . .”);

Suffragette Move-

ment

,CHI.DEF., Mar. 8, 1913, at 8 (reporting that Ida B. Wells was ordered to “. . .

march in the colored section or not at all . . .”).

90 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

to be expected our women are meeting with some objections in the Suf-

fragettes’ranks ....”

191

The language in this latter article is particularly

telling: the article’s opening phrase, “As was to be expected,” highlights

the Black community’s beliefs surrounding activist work during that

time. However, generally speaking, the

Defender

did not spend much

time discussing the fissures in the suffrage movement or the wrongs com-

mitted against Black women, though they were many. Instead, the paper

began to focus increasingly on the ways that women’s suffrage and Jim

Crow were connected, especially in Southern states.

The connection between Black suffrage and women’s suffrage be-

came inherently and politically entangled in the years before the passage

of the Nineteenth Amendment. One 1915 article stated,

[O]ur Southern friends see in the suffragettes’ proposed

amendment . . . a bitter pill that they will be expected to swal-

low if the measure goes through, and that pill is that if women

are given the ballot the ‘brunettes,’ who in many States are in

the vast majority, will have the same privilege . . . .

192

This concern was increasingly echoed throughout the country. One arti-

cle, printed the following year, indicated that President Wilson similarly

understood the connection between women’s suffrage and Black suffrage:

“[P]ersons close to the President say they believe his private opinion is

that woman suffrage in the south would be bad for that section of the

country on account of the increase it would cause in the Negro vote.”

193

Other politicians from the South explicitly expressed similar sentiments:

In 1918, Senator Williams from Mississippi said, “There will come a time

in our international relations when the people out West will regret that

they did not draw the white line.... Do you want to let ...nig[g]er

women vote?”

194

By 1918, the majority of discussions regarding women’s suffrage on

the pages of the

Defender

focused on the South’s use of Jim Crow to

disenfranchise Black voters—both male and female. In one article, the

Defender

wrote:

[The Southern states] plan all day and lie awake nights schem-

ing how to carry out their point. This from an editor of one of

the largest Texas dailies is representative: ‘There is nothing in

191

. Rubbing Elbows

,CHI.DEF., Feb. 21, 1914, at 4.

192

. That Suffrage Amendment

,CHI.DEF., Oct. 16, 1915, at 8.

193

. Detroit Free Press Flays Pres. Wilson

,CHI.DEF., Aug. 19, 1916, at 6.

194

. Miss. Senator Cries Aloud Against Woman Suffrage

,CHI.DEF., July 6, 1918, at 10.

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 91

the past political history of the South to justify the fear that

Negro women would prove a political menace were the federal

amendment adopted.’ We agree with this learned scribe; the

fears of the rabble are unfounded. The southern states have

found a way to retain the supremacy of the white man at the

polls and it is safe to believe they will do likewise where our

women are concerned.

195

The article goes on to cite measures such as grandfather clauses, white

primaries, and literacy tests as measures used to keep Black citizens from

the polls.

196

As the inevitability of the Nineteenth Amendment became increas-

ingly clear, the Black community turned its attention to Black suffrage

efforts more generally. Therefore, even before the passage of the Nine-

teenth Amendment, the Black community saw Black women as voters—

or, potential voters in Southern states—just the same as their Black male

counterparts. As such, the

Defender

encouraged all subscribers, men and

women alike, to get out and vote.

The Black community’s shift in focus is evident in the

Defender

’s

reporting on the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. In fact, the

Chi-

cago Defender

did not report on the passage of the Nineteenth Amend-

ment during the week of August 18, 1920.

197

The front-page stories for

that week included, “Trap Woman in Blackmail Plot,”

198

“South Revolts

on Jim Crow System,”

199

and “Resorts Close as Policemen Raid.”

200

1920, women’s suffrage was not frequently reported on by the

Defender

Suffrage was, as always, important to the Black community; one 1924

article, reporting on the National Race Congress, said, “Women were

called upon to exercise their rights under the 19

amendment . . .”

201

However, attention shifted away from women’s suffrage and towards

Black suffrage more generally as it became clear that Black women would

only be able to vote in places where Black men were able to vote. Jim

Crow laws were impacting both Black men and Black women at the polls.

One 1929 article in the

Defender

illustrated the issues that Black

men and women faced when attempting to vote. The article stated, “The

195

. Women’s Suffrage

,CHI.DEF., Oct. 12, 1918, at 12.

196

.Id.

197

. See

CHI.DEF., Aug. 21, 1920.

198

. Trap Woman in Blackmail Plot

,CHI.DEF., Aug. 21, 1920, at 1.

199

. South Revolts on Jim Crow System

,CHI.DEF., Aug. 21, 1920, at 1.

200

. Resorts Close as Policemen Raid

,CHI.DEF., Aug. 21, 1920, at 1.

201. Wayland Rudd,

National Race Congress Ends Its Annual Session

,CHI.DEF., May 17,

1924, at A11.

92 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW [Vol. 29:63

recent decision . . . in invalidating the Virginia Democratic primary law

has served to emphasize the fact that our citizens in Virginia are denied

the right to vote in general elections in flagrant violation of the spirit, if

not the letter, of the 14

and 15

amendments . . .”

202

The article pro-

vides numbers to support this claim, saying that there were “315,000 of

our citizens of both sexes” in Virginia but only 8,000 Black men and

women were allowed to vote in the 1929 presidential election.

203

Other

articles focused on systemic issues and called on politicians to protect

Black voters in the South. Discussing the Republican National Conven-

tion of 1924, one article published three major demands: “1. Effort be

made that Race Republicans in disfranchised states be given the oppor-

tunity to vote”; “2. Appropriate legislation be enacted to stop lynching of

Race American citizens”; and “3. “That something must be done with

lily-witeism . . . “ an anti-Black movement within the Republican

party.

204

The Black community was well aware that Black men and

women alike were struggling to cast their votes in the Jim Crow South;

the

Defender

’s pivot to discussing Black suffrage generally illustrates a

community-wide understanding of the ways that the Nineteenth Amend-

ment would—or, more accurately, would not—impact Black women

voters.

ONCLUSION

Recent scholarship has started recognizing the important role that

Black women played in the women’s rights movement, often relying on

a variety of primary sources to gain a better understanding of Black suf-

fragettes and organizing during that time. Considering the stories pub-

lished by the

Chicago Defender

between 1910 and 1930 offers additional,

and thus far largely unexamined, insight and perspective into the

thoughts and beliefs of the greater Black community generally—and

Black men in particular—during this time. While

Defender

reporters in

the early 1910s relied on sexist tropes to mock women’s suffrage and suf-

fragettes, the tone of these articles turned towards acceptance and then

outright promotion long before the passage of the Nineteenth Amend-

ment. A similar trend appeared on the newspaper’s pages regarding

women’s organizing efforts across the country. And by 1919, coverage

and discussion of women’s suffrage was scarcely found in the

Defender

202

. Deny Virginia Citizens Right to Use Ballot

,CHI.DEF., Aug. 3, 1929, at A1.

203

.Id.

204. William White,

Demand G.O.P Curb South: Must Give Race the Right to Vote

,CHI.

EF, June 14, 1924, at 5.

2022] UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT 93

replaced almost completely with concern for and political activism sur-

rounding Jim Crow laws. Tellingly, when the Nineteenth Amendment

passed in 1920, the

Defender

did not even report on it. Though these

findings cannot speak for all Black Americans during this period, the pa-

per’s reputation and influence indicate that the ideas found on its pages

were highly valued by Black Americans. While much of the current re-

search regarding Black women’s suffrage concerns Black women’s activist

efforts, this Article discusses Black men’s changing perception of women’s

suffrage through journalistic coverage. Words and stories have power; lis-

tening to the words and stories on the pages of the

Chicago Defender

—

and thinking about all of the Black communities, large and small, that

understood the newspaper to be

theirs

—sheds light on the way that these

readers thought about and understood the Nineteenth Amendment.

❖