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Arlington Public Library

19th Amendment

Roberta Flack’s Arlington Roots

Roberta Flack is known worldwide for her voice, songwriting and overall musical ability, for which she has won multiple Grammys. Flack has performed on stages across the world, and her roots are here in her hometown of Arlington.

Early Life

Flack was born near Asheville, North Carolina, in 1937, and moved to the Green Valley (formerly referred to as Nauck) neighborhood in Arlington when she was five years old. Musical from an early age, Flack began playing the organ and piano around age 9 and performed at local churches including Macedonia Baptist Church and Lomax AME Zion.

Roberta Flack photographed by Anthony Barboza, 1971. Image courtesy of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Flack grew up playing Chopin, Schumann, Bach, and Beethoven, and at 13, won a statewide contest by performing a Scarlatti sonata. One of her piano teachers was Lottie B. Bellamy, an Arlington resident and longtime organist at Macedonia Baptist Church. Flack’s mother, Irene Flack, was also a prominent community member, serving as the longtime chief baker at Wakefield High School and as an organist at Lomax AME Zion.

Flack attended Hoffman-Boston High School – then the only school available for African American children in Arlington – until age 15, when she was awarded a full music scholarship to Howard University. After graduating at 19, she went on to become a music teacher in Farmville, North Carolina, teaching about 1,300 students at all grade levels in the city’s segregated school system.

In Roberta Flack’s 1953 senior yearbook at Hoffman-Boston, she was listed as “most musical” in the class superlatives, and in the “Class Prophecy,” her classmates predicted she would play piano at Carnegie Hall. This prediction eventually came true when Flack performed there in 1971 (and again in 1981).

Starting Her Career

Flack's music career took off in D.C., where she also continued to work as a teacher at the Rabaut and Brown junior high schools in the D.C. public school system. She began performing in the evenings at locations such as the Tivoli Theater and Mr. Henry’s in the District. At the Tivoli, she also worked as a backing pianist for opera singers, and her spark as a solo performer came with a rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock” performed at the restaurant, where Flack said it was her "cue that people would listen to [her] as a singer.”

Mr. Henry’s became one of her regular venues, and the club’s owner, Henry Yaffe, even turned the apartment above the club into the “Roberta Flack Room” for her performances – adding in church pews and a Mason & Hamlin piano to create a more intimate energy than the more raucous main stage. She started off playing Sunday brunch sets for $20 a week, initially with a folk-inspired repertoire. However, as her fame and success as a performer quickly grew, she began to consider pursuing it full-time. Of this time in her life, she said:

"It took courage to leave my classroom job because I was a Black person who had grown up in Arlington, Virginia, through the ‘50s and ‘60s; now I’m teaching school in the late ‘60s and I decide I want to sing. These days, there’s lots of things that you can go for, but in those days you had to have a lot of heart and a strong desire to do that.”

Watercolor portraits of Roberta Flack, Harry Nilsson, Carole King, and Ian Anderson (starting clockwise from top right), circa 1973. Image courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery.

Legacy

In 1969, she recorded her first album, First Take, with Atlantic Records. Aptly recorded in only 10 hours, the song’s discography was informed by pieces she had developed at Mr. Henry’s. Flack continued to return to the venue as her career took off, using it as a home base during her other performances in the District.

One of her first big hits was from that first album when in 1973 Clint Eastwood featured her song “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” (a folk ballad Flack had taught to her students in school glee clubs) in the film “Play Misty for Me.” Flack collaborated with many artists over the course of her career, including Donny Hathaway, Peabo Bryson, and for her album Oasis, Flack collaborated with longtime friend Maya Angelou on four songs, including “And So It Goes.”

Flack has continued to make music well into the 21st century, and in 2020, was the recipient of the Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Roberta Flack photographed by Anthony Barboza, 1971. Image courtesy of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Poster from “Roberta Flack Human Kindness Day” on April 22, 1972, in Washington, D.C., to celebrate Flack. Image by Lloyd McNeill & Lou Stovall, courtesy of Di and Lou Stovall from the “What's Going Around: Lou Stovall and the Community Poster, 1967–1976” exhibit at the Columbus Museum.

Learn More

“Cover Me: The Stories Behind the Greatest Cover Songs of All Time” features a section discussing the history of Roberta Flack’s cover of “Killing Me Softly,” and the subsequent Fugees rendition.

This Week in 19th Amendment History: The 19th Amendment is Officially Adopted

August 26, 1920: 19th Amendment is Adopted

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

The 19th Amendment was officially adopted into the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920, marking another significant date on the journey to achieve universal suffrage.

“Unknown Photographer, ‘Women voting,’ circa 1925.” Image courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

Consisting of two sections, the Amendment reads: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex” and “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

The journey of the 19th Amendment was decades in the making, the culmination of generations of activists and groups advocating for women’s right to vote. Its legislative journey was also long in the making: after repeated attempts to pass the amendment, starting as early as 1878, it finally passed the House of Representatives with a two-thirds majority vote in January of 1918.

In June 1919, it was approved by the Senate and sent to the states for ratification. Tennessee sealed the amendment’s success when on August 18, 1920, it became the 36th state to sign on, making ratification official and making women’s suffrage law.

But the journey didn’t end with Tennessee’s dramatic clinching vote. The certified record of action of the state’s legislature was sent via train to Washington, D.C., and arrived just over a week later on August 26. (Virginia notably rejected the 19th Amendment in February of 1920 and didn’t formally ratify the it until February 21, 1952.)

Cover of The Suffragist, the National Woman’s Party’s weekly newsletter, celebrating the passage of the 19th Amendment in the Senate, June 21, 1919. Image courtesy of the Bryn Mawr College Library.

Signing the 19th Amendment

Early the morning of August 26, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed the Amendment without ceremony at his home. In contrast to the formalities and ceremony of other pieces of legislation, no leaders of the suffrage movement were present at the signing, nor were any members of the press, or any recording devices.

This lack of ceremony upset some suffragists, such as Abby Scott Baker of the National Woman’s Party, who declared,

“It was quite tragic. This was the final culmination of the women’s fight, and, women, irrespective of factions, should have been allowed to be present when the proclamation was signed. However, the women of America have fought a big fight and nothing can take from them their triumph.” (From the New York Times, August 27, 1920.)

Headline from the New York Times the day after the 19th Amendment was adopted, August 27, 1920. Image courtesy of the New York Times.

Later that day, suffragist and head of the conservative National American Suffrage Associate Carrie Chapman Catt, along with fellow organization member Helen H. Gardiner, were received at the White House by then-president Woodrow Wilson and First Lady Edith Wilson, marking the only governmental celebration of the signing day.

Numerous groups were excluded from the rights extended by the 19th amendment, including Native Americans, women in some U.S. territories, women of Asian descent, and others excluded from obtaining citizenship. African Americans were also systemically prevented from voting through Jim Crow laws and voter suppression, and African American woman activists such as Fannie Lou Hamer and Diane Nash helped to eventually secure the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – another national milestone in the fight to truly secure universal suffrage for all.

Women's Equality Day

In 1973, as the Equal Rights Amendment was going under review in Congress, President Nixon signed Proclamation 4236 declaring August 26 Women’s Equality Day.

This was a symbolic end to the decades-long struggle for women’s suffrage, and due recognition of the scores of activists and groups who had toiled to achieve to right to vote, but the journey toward universal suffrage didn’t stop with the 19th amendment

Countless people are still fighting for their right to vote today, and the milestone of the 19th Amendment is a reminder of how far we have come, and how far we still have to go in pursuit of fully equal voting rights.

Read stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

“Women out in force, Men and women at the voting poll, Oliver and Henry Streets, New York City,” circa 1922. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

“Twelve Reasons Why Women Should Vote.” Image courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

As we celebrate the 19th Amendment, it is a pressing reminder to get registered to vote in the upcoming election on Tuesday, November 3. You can register to vote online, by mail or in person. Learn more here.

It’s also important to complete the 2020 Census. Conducted every 10 years, data from the Census is used to determine millions of dollars of annual funding for Arlington County. It is also used to determine voter apportionment and redistricting. Complete the Census today at my2020census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020, by mail, or in-person with a census taker.

2020 marks the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

This Week in 19th Amendment History: The Ratification of the 19th Amendment

August 18, 1920: 19th Amendment is Ratified

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

This week, we celebrate the 100 anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification. On August 18, 1920, a day nearly a century in the making, Tennessee became the last of the needed 36 states (or, ¾ of the United States) to secure adoption of the Amendment.

House Joint Resolution I proposing the 19th Amendment to the States. Image courtesy of the National Archives.

The amendment had initially been introduced to Congress in 1878, but attempts to pass through the House had repeatedly failed. In the following years, countless individuals and activist groups fought toward the goal of granting women their full democratic voting rights.

The 19th Amendment finally passed through the House of Representatives on May 21, 1919, followed by the Senate on June 4, 1919. From there, it was sent to the states for ratification, which took over a year.

Tennessee’s position as the final ratifying state has become something of a legend, coming down to the decision of a 24-year-old state representative named Harry T. Burn. After easily passing the amendment in the Tennessee House, its Senate took longer to come to a decision. Intense lobbying led to what was described as a “War of the Roses” – where supporters of suffrage donned yellow roses to symbolize their loyalty during the legislative proceedings, while anti-suffragists wore red.

After two tied votes, it came down to young Burn, who – after receiving an encouraging letter from his aging mother – broke the tie with an “Aye,” thus putting an end to the back-and-forth, and cementing Tennessee’s role in the history of women’s suffrage.

Tennessee’s position as the final ratifying state has become something of a legend, coming down to the decision of a 24-year-old state representative named Harry T. Burn. After easily passing the amendment in the Tennessee House, its Senate took longer to come to a decision. Intense lobbying led to what was described as a “War of the Roses” – where supporters of suffrage donned yellow roses to symbolize their loyalty during the legislative proceedings, while anti-suffragists wore red.

After two tied votes, it came down to young Burn, who – after receiving an encouraging letter from his aging mother – broke the tie with an “Aye,” thus putting an end to the back-and-forth, and cementing Tennessee’s role in the history of women’s suffrage.

“When Tennessee the 36th State Ratified, Aug 18, 1920, Alice Paul, National Chairman of the Woman’s Party, Unfurled the Ratification Banner from Suffrage Headquarters."
This photo captures suffragist Alice Paul unfurling a completed “ratification flag” with 36 stars. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

But the drama of this down-to-the-wire story, in which a young man appears to play the starring role, should not overshadow the decades of labor and work done by the actual activists behind the cause. Suffragists were tireless, sophisticated, and revolutionary in their means and methods. They used grassroots organizing, and initiated legal challenges. And when 12 women walked from their Lafayette Square headquarters to picket outside of the White House’s North Gate, hoping to gain the attention of then-president Woodrow Wilson, these suffragists were among the first groups to demonstrate outside of the White House.

The celebration of successful suffrage would also be incomplete without recognition of the African American women and other POC activists whose efforts have largely gone unsung in the retrospective view of the fight for suffrage. These individuals and groups worked tirelessly for the cause, even amidst rampant racism within and without the suffrage movement.

Read stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

“The First Picket Line-College Day in the picket line,” February 1917. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The “Honor Roll” in The Suffragist, a weekly newspaper published by the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, listing the 36 states in the order they ratified the 19th amendment. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

A banner from the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs with its motto, “Lifting as we climb,” circa 1924. The organization was founded by prominent suffragist Mary Church Terrell in 1896 as the National Association of Colored Women. Terrell also served as its first president. Image courtesy of the National Museum of African American History & Culture.

An excerpt from local coverage of the ratification of the 19th Amendment in the Alexandria Gazette, from August 19, 1920. Image courtesy of the Virginia Chronicle.

Unfortunately, although the 19th Amendment was ratified on this historic date, millions were still not able to vote equally in practice. The Amendment did not include voting rights for Native Americans, women in some U.S. territories, women of Asian descent, and others excluded from obtaining citizenship. African American women and men also faced rampant voter suppression, Jim Crow laws, and many other systemically imposed barriers to the ballot box.

Countless are still fighting for their right to vote today, and the milestone of the 19th Amendment is a reminder of how far we have come, and how far we still have to go in pursuit of fully equal voting rights.

As we celebrate the 19th Amendment, it is a pressing reminder to get registered to vote in the upcoming election on Tuesday, November 3. You can register to vote online, by mail or in person. Learn more here.

It’s also important to complete the 2020 Census. Conducted every 10 years, data from the Census is used to determine millions of dollars of annual funding for Arlington County. It is also used to determine voter apportionment and redistricting. Complete the Census today at my2020census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020, by mail, or in-person with a census taker.

2020 marks the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

A Year of Stories and Milestones in the Fight for Women’s Suffrage

Celebrating the 19th Amendment

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

The executive committee of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. Image courtesy of Spartacus Education via Your Voice Your Vote.

Over the course of the last year, the Center for Local History has collected the stories of the individuals and groups that helped lay the foundation for women’s suffrage in the United States.

As the Library commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, a major milestone in enacting the democratic principles of our nation, read the stories detailing the people and events that led up to this historic moment.

January 8: The First Issue of The Women’s Journal

Suffragist Margaret Foley distributing the Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News, 1913. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The Woman’s Journal was a women’s rights publication that produced its first issue on January 8, 1870.  One of the most significant and popular publications of the women’s suffrage movement, it ran in various forms from 1870 to 1931. Founded by suffragist Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell in Boston, Massachusetts, the Woman's Journal aimed to provide a broad segment of women with information on the women’s rights movement and the suffrage cause.

Read the rest of the story.

January 26: Zitkála-Šá

Image of Zitkála-Šá ca. 1921, courtesy of the Library of Congress

Nationally recognized as an author and activist, Zitkála-Šá was a vocal proponent for citizenship and voting rights for Native Americans. A Lyon Park resident later in life, she passed away on this date in 1938 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Read the rest of the story.

March 10: Hallie Quinn Brown

Hallie Quinn Brown. Image courtesy of Wilberforce-Payne Unified Library.

Born on March 10, 1865, Hallie Quinn Brown was a preeminent educator, writer, public speaker, and activist in the causes of civil rights and suffrage throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. She was a president of the National Council of Colored Women and worked on political campaigns throughout her life.

Read the rest of the story.

May 4: Mabel Ping-Hua Lee

Dr. Mabel Lee, date unknown. Photo from the George Grantham Bain Collection, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

On May 4, 1912, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee made history when she led one of New York City’s major suffrage parades on horseback. Lee was an active suffragist and activist throughout her life despite the barriers around her – for example, Chinese women such as Lee herself would not be able to vote until the Chinese Exclusion Act was removed in 1943 and they could become citizens.

Read the rest of the story.

May 10: The 11th National Women’s Rights Convention

“Horse-drawn float declares National American Woman Suffrage Association’s support for Bristow-Mondell amendment.” Circa 1914. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In 1866, the women’s suffrage movement experienced a significant change in its organization as the various groups leading the struggle toward women’s suffrage split over certain issues. Key among them was support for the 15th Amendment, (passed in 1869), which states that "The right of citizens of the United States 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."

Read the rest of the story.

May 20: Nannie Helen Burroughs

Nannie Helen Burroughs photographed between 1900 and 1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Nannie Helen Burroughs, who was a leading educator, feminist and suffragist in the Washington, D.C., area throughout the early 20th century, founded a school for girls and women and was an active member in her community.

Read the rest of the story.

July 16: Ida B. Wells

Portrait of Ida B. Wells, circa 1893. Image courtesy of the National Park Service.

Ida B. Wells was an investigative journalist, activist, and suffragist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. She was also one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Read the rest of the story.

September 23: Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell, photo taken between 1880 and 1900, printed later. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Born on September 23, 1863, Mary Church Terrell was a D.C. suffragist who was a tireless champion of women’s rights and racial justice. She was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women, an active member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and was engaged in lawsuits related to civil rights well into her eighties.

Read the rest of the story.

October 17: Agatha Tiegel Hanson

Video of Agatha Tiegel Hanson, reminiscing [about her college experiences] with unnamed younger people. From the Gallaudet Archives. No transcript, undated.

Agatha Tiegel Hanson was the first female graduate (and valedictorian) of Gallaudet University and an early champion of both deaf and women’s rights. Hanson, who passed away on October 17, 1959, was instrumental in organizing women’s groups on Gallaudet’s campus and continued to advocate for equality throughout her life.

Read the rest of the story.

October 23: The National Woman’s Rights Convention

Lucy Stone, one of the Convention’s lead organizers and a speaker at the event.

On October 23, 1850, the first National Woman’s Rights Convention began in Worcester, Massachusetts. Amidst the ringing fervor of the mid-19th-century clarion call for expanding women’s rights – with the right to vote as its central tenet – this day would emerge as a significant step in solidifying the goals and action plan of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States.

Read the rest of the story.

November 14: The Night of Terror

Policewoman arrests Florence Youmans of Minnesota and Annie Arniel (center) of Delaware for refusing to give up their banners. June 1917. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

On November 14, 1917, a group of suffragists underwent a horrifying night of torture and abuse that would come to be known as the “Night of Terror.” On this day in history, 33 women protesters were taken to the Occoquan Workhouse in Fairfax County and subjected to brutal treatment by the prison’s guards in retaliation for the women’s ongoing peaceful protest for the right to vote.

Read the rest of the story.

November 26: Sojourner Truth

Portrait of Sojourner Truth. Caption on portrait reads: "I sell the shadow to support the substance." Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

November 26 marks the anniversary of the death of legendary suffragist and abolitionist Sojourner Truth. Born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree (sometimes written as Bomfree) in 1797, Truth was enslaved in Dutch-speaking Ulster County, New York, where she was bought and sold four times throughout her life.

Read the rest of the story.

December 10: Wyoming Day

“Scene at the Polls in Cheyenne,” 1888.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

On December 10, 1869, the frontier territory became the first to explicitly grant women the right to vote when Governor John Campbell approved “An Act to Grant to the Women of Wyoming Territory the Right of Suffrage and to Hold Office.”

Read the rest of the story.

To learn more about Arlington's history, visit the Center for Local History on the first floor of the Central Library.

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This Week in 19th Amendment History: Ida B. Wells

July 16, 1862: Ida B. Wells is Born

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

Ida B. Wells was an investigative journalist, activist, and suffragist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. She was also one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Portrait of Ida B. Wells, circa 1893. Image courtesy of the National Park Service.

Early Life

Ida B. Wells was born into slavery on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, to James and Lizzie Wells. Following the conclusion of the Civil War, Wells’ parents became politically active as the country navigated Reconstruction. Ida's father, James, was a member of the Freedmen’s Aid Society, as well as one of the founders of Rust College in Holly Springs – one of 10 historically Black universities founded before 1868 that is still operating today. Encouraged to pursue her education, Ida later enrolled at Rust College but was ousted from her studies after a dispute with the university’s president.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

At only age 16, she lost both of her parents and her infant brother to a yellow fever epidemic that had decimated Holly Springs. Left with custody of her other siblings, Wells was able to convince a school administrator that she was 18, and began teaching to support her family. In 1882, she moved with her siblings to Memphis to live with an aunt, and there she continued to work as a teacher. She began classes at Fisk University in Nashville, where she would commute to by train. On one of these trips in May 1884, Wells – who had purchased a first-class ticket – was forced to move to a segregated car for African American passengers. Wells refused to move and was forced off of the train. Wells went on to sue the railroad and won a settlement in court.

Inspired by this incident, Wells pivoted her career toward writing about the topics of race and politics. Under the pseudonym “Iola,” Wells’ work was published in a number of Black-owned newspapers and periodicals. She also went on to hold shares of two newspapers: The Free Speech and Headlight, and Free Speech. All the while, she continued teaching in the segregated Memphis school system, of which she was also a vocal critic. Due to her vocal stance against segregation in the city and in the schools, as well as her criticism of the condition of schools, she was fired from her position.

People's Grocery Lynchings

In 1892, Wells’ journalistic focus took a turn. After the murder of a friend and two of his business associates at the hands of a lynch mob in Memphis, Wells began reporting on the epidemic of lynching in the South.

The three men, Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart, had owned a storefront called People’s Grocery that was successfully competing with white businesses in the city. They were attacked and fought back, then were arrested, and subsequently dragged from jail by a white mob and lynched. This prompted Wells, who was also a godmother to Moss’ daughter, to write articles against lynching, and she frequently risked her own life to travel and learn more about killings that occurred in the region.

In 1898, she traveled to Washington, D.C., to present her anti-lynching campaign to then-president William McKinley.

A marker at the site of the 1892 People’s Grocery lynching. Image courtesy of the Lynching Sites Project, Memphis.

Wells faced violence herself over the course of her reporting – in response to one of her editorials, a white mob stormed her newspaper’s office and destroyed her property there. Wells was in New York at the time, but the incident led to her moving to Chicago, where she continued reporting on lynching for the New York Age; a newspaper helmed by T. Thomas Fortune, who had also been formerly enslaved. In 1892, she compiled her reporting on lynching into a book, titled “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.”

A report of the attack on Wells’ office in Memphis from the Washington Bee, June 11, 1892. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The front page of one of Wells’ books on lynching in the United States, published 1895. “A Red Record” was a follow-up to “Southern Horrors,” and included more statistics and case details. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The Alpha Suffrage Club

In addition to her reporting work, Wells was a founding member of numerous civil rights groups including the National Association of Colored Women and the Negro Fellowship League. She also attended the founding conference of what would later become known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Wells’ work in advancing the suffrage cause was also prolific. In January 1913, she founded the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago, where she also served as president. The club aimed to promote city representatives who would best serve the Black community and who favored suffrage. The Alpha Suffrage Club was crucial in Illinois passing its Equal Suffrage Act on June 25, 1913, which granted women suffrage in the state.

As a result of their efforts, Wells and other members were invited to march in the 1913 Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C. However, at the parade, Wells and the members of her group were asked to march at the back of the procession by the white parade organizers, to which Wells refused, joining in in the midst of the action.

A profile of Ida B. Wells in Salt Lake City’s The Broad Ax, July 14, 1917. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Legacy

Wells died in 1931 but continued her career and life as an activist until the end of her life. In 1929 and 1930, she ran for state senator but was defeated – however, simply running as an African American was unprecedented at the time and her campaign was revolutionary in and of itself.

Wells’ legacy has long been overlooked in the scope of women’s suffrage, civil rights activism, and the progression of investigative reporting in the country. Just this year, she was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize, “For her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.” She is also among those featured in the New York Times’ “Overlooked” project, which highlights individuals who previously were not given the space for an obituary. You can read their retroactive obituary for Wells on their website.

A monument has also been proposed to honor Wells in her longtime home of Chicago.

Image courtesy of the League of Women Voters Chicago.

The Library has a number of resources to learn more about Ida B. Wells, as well as some of her original works:

By Ida B. Wells:

About Ida B. Wells:

2020 marks the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

This Week in 19th Amendment History: Nannie Helen Burroughs

May 20, 1961: Nannie Helen Burroughs Passes Away

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

Nannie Helen Burroughs, who was a leading educator, feminist and suffragist in the Washington, D.C., area throughout the early 20th century, founded a school for girls and women and was an active member in her community.

Portrait of Nannie Helen Burroughs (left) and unidentified companion, ca. 1900. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Early Life

Burroughs was born on May 2, 1879, in rural Orange, Virginia. Both of her parents were formerly enslaved, and her father passed away when Burroughs was a young girl. She and her mother subsequently moved to Washington, D.C., where Burroughs spent the majority of her childhood.

She was an exemplary student and graduated with honors from the M Street High School, now the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. Though she excelled academically, she was denied a teaching job in the Washington, D.C., public school system – however, this setback would not hinder her goal to further the education of those in need.

Nannie Helen Burroughs (center) and others at the National Training School in Washington, D.C., taken around 1909. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Training School

Burroughs then decided to establish her own school to educate and train African American women who could not pursue a traditional educational path. Burroughs brought her proposal to the National Baptist Convention, and the organization decided to support her idea. The group bought six acres of land in the Lincoln Heights area of Northwest Washington, D.C., but this was only the beginning of her journey to open the school. Not wanting to rely on wealthy white donors, Burroughs gained the support of small donations from African American women and children to raise the funds to open the school. Once the fiscal matters were in order, Burroughs was able to open the National Training School for Women and Girls in 1909.

Originally operating out of a small farmhouse on the property, the school was popular and well-attended through the first half of the 20th century. The curriculum at the school was rigorous, including courses both vocational and academic, such as dressmaking, power machine operation, music, and physical education. Students could also participate in activities such as the school newspaper. Most of the students came from working-class backgrounds and hailed both from the Washington, D.C., area and other countries around the world.

Early supporters of the school included Black history scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson and president of the National Association of Colored Women, Mary McCleod Bethune, who also spoke at the dedication ceremony. Burroughs outlined her goals for the school as training women for jobs both in and outside of the traditional female job sphere, and aiming for each student to become “the fiber of a sturdy moral, industrious and intellectual woman.” In 1928, the school saw an expansion, and a larger building – called Trades Hall – was constructed, with 12 classrooms, three offices, an assembly hall, and a print shop.

Student basketball players at the National Training School for Women and Girls, between 1900 and 1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Woman’s Convention of the National Baptist Convention

At the same time as Burroughs lead her school and students, she was also an activist and advocate. Notably, she was involved in supporting greater civil rights and suffrage for African Americans and women. She wrote and spoke extensively on these topics, highlighting the need for African American and white women to work together to achieve the right to vote for all. She also emphasized that suffrage for African American women was key in protecting them in a persistently prejudiced and discriminatory society.

Starting early in her career, she was active in the Woman’s Convention of the National Baptist Convention, many of whose members were fellow suffragists and who discussed suffrage topics at their meetings. In 1900 she delivered a speech at the group’s annual meeting entitled “How Sisters Are Hindered from Helping,” and at the 1905 First Baptist World Alliance meeting in London, gave a speech called “Women’s Part in the World’s Work.” Burroughs also served as the corresponding secretary of the Woman’s Convention for 48 years and helped the organization grow its membership to 1.5 million by 1907.

“Nine African-American women posed, standing, full length, with Nannie Burroughs holding banner reading, Banner State Woman's National Baptist Convention.” Published between 1905 and 1915. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Legacy

Throughout her life she also became part of the vibrant community of African American women suffragists, advocating for the cause alongside Coralie Franklin Cook, Anna Julia Cooper, Angelina Weld Grimké, Lucy Diggs Slowe, and Mary Church Terrell. African American women’s clubs were a strong network in Washington, D.C., and Burroughs was also active in these groups, including the National Association of Colored Women, the National Association of Wage Earners, and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.

Burroughs served as president of her school until her death on May 20, 1961, and three years later, the school changed its name to the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in her honor. Trades Hall now houses the Progressive National Baptist Convention and is a National Historic Landmark.

Nannie Helen Burroughs photographed between 1900 and 1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

2020 marks the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

This Week in 19th Amendment History: Shifts and Splits in the Suffrage Movement

May 10, 1866: 11th National Woman’s Right Convention

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

In 1866, the women’s suffrage movement experienced a significant change in its organization as the various groups leading the struggle toward women’s suffrage split over certain issues.

Key among them was support for the 15th Amendment, (passed in 1869), which states that "The right of citizens of the United States 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."

American Equal Rights Association

One of the major groups leading the suffrage movement at this point was the American Equal Rights Association (AERA). The organization was founded on May 10, 1866, at the eleventh National Woman’s Right Convention by suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The group outlined its goal to “secure Equal Rights to all Americans citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color, or sex.”

The AERA featured a diverse group of members, many prominent figures in the suffrage and abolition movements. Among those who played significant roles in the group were Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, Frederick Douglass, and Henry Blackwell. A number of African-American women also held leadership roles, including Harriet Purvis, Sarah Remond, and Sojourner Truth.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (left) and Susan B. Anthony (right). Stanton and Anthony broke off to form the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 after disagreement over the 15th Amendment, which they both opposed. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Advocacy for All

The American Equal Rights Association was initially focused on advocating and campaigning for the rights of both women and African Americans in the United States, and on gaining suffrage for both.

At the first anniversary meeting of the group, on May 9 and 10 in 1867, the group’s leadership wrote:

“Let the gathering, then, at this anniversary be, in numbers and character, worthy, in some degree, the demands of the hour. The black man, even the black soldier, is yet but half emancipated, nor will he be, until full suffrage and citizenship, are secured to him in the Federal Constitution. Still more deplorable is the condition of the black woman; and legally, that of the white woman is no better!

Shall the sun of the nineteenth century go down on wrongs like these, in this nation, consecrated in its infancy to justice and freedom? Rather let out meeting be pledge as well as prophecy to the world of mankind, that the redemption of at least one great nation is near at hand.”

Divisions in the AERA

This approach was short-lived, however, as prejudices were increasingly exposed in the group. This was particularly clear in New York and Kansas, two states with notable and controversial suffrage campaigns led by the AERA.

The New York campaign focused on entering women’s suffrage into the state’s constitutional revisions, as well as fighting discrimination against Black voters. Horace Greeley, a notable newspaper editor, and abolitionist, was chair of this campaign’s suffrage committee, and later came into disagreement with Stanton and Anthony. Greeley wanted to focus solely on Black male suffrage, while Stanton and Anthony wanted the focus on white women's suffrage.

The Kansas campaign was even more pivotal to the split, as the state was about to vote on both suffrage for white women and suffrage for African American men. Stanton and Anthony decided to back George Train, who used racist vitriol to further his campaign against granting African American men suffrage. Anthony’s writing also became more anti-Black during this time. Other members of the AERA stood up against this approach, notably Lucy Stone, but ultimately neither suffrage bill passed in Kansas.

In 1869, a final blow was dealt to the existing structure of the women’s movement. Two days prior at the AERA annual meeting, acrimonious debates had marked the group’s discussions. Frederick Douglass notably called out Stanton for denigrating Black male voters in her work in Kansas.

Two days later, on May 15, 1869, the AERA disbanded permanently. On that same day, Stanton and Anthony broke off to form the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA).

The executive committee of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. Image courtesy of Spartacus Education via Your Voice Your Vote.

National Woman Suffrage Association / American Woman Suffrage Association

Headquartered in New York City, the aim of National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was to promote suffrage for white women and to oppose the 15th Amendment.

Later that year, another group emerged: led by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Brown Blackwell, as well as Julia Ward Howe, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) supported the 15th Amendment along with women’s suffrage.

The split between these two groups lasted nearly two decades. However, in 1890, Lucy Stone’s daughter, Alice Stone Blackwell, successfully led a merger, leading to the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). (Among the founding members was Washington DC activist Mary Church Terrell.)

This was the first time in decades the suffrage movement had been united under one banner, but racism within the movement persisted. Though the group was not segregated nationally, local chapters could and did exclude African American women. The struggles and shifts in these groups demonstrate the deeply ingrained prejudices that have accompanied the American suffrage movement for decades.

“Suffragists Mrs. Stanley McCormick and Mrs. Charles Parker, April 22, 1913.” Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

“Horse drawn float declares National American Woman Suffrage Association’s support for Bristow-Mondell amendment.” Circa 1914. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

2020 marks the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

This Week in 19th Amendment History: Suffragist Mabel Ping-Hua Lee

May 4, 1912

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

Over 100 years ago this week a 16-year-old suffragist named Mabel Ping-Hua Lee made history when she lead one of the major women’s suffrage marches in New York City.

Dr. Mabel Lee, date unknown. Photo from the George Grantham Bain Collection, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Lee was born near Hong Kong in 1896 and moved to the United States in 1905 to join her father, who was serving as a missionary. Lee was granted a visa as part of an academic scholarship and attended the Erasmus Hall Academy in New York City, one of the oldest schools in the nation.

Throughout her teens, Lee grew increasingly involved in New York’s suffrage movement. On May 4, 1912, Lee rode on horseback at the head of a parade to advocate for women’s voting rights, along with suffragists Annie Rensselaer Tinker, Anna Howard Shaw (carrying a banner from the National American Woman Suffrage Association), and members of the Women’s Political Union. Ten thousand people attended this gathering, which started in Greenwich Village.

She later spearheaded another major march in 1917, leading Chinese-American women in a pro-suffrage parade down Fifth Avenue along with the Women’s Political Equality League.

“Youngest parader in New York City suffragist parade.” Participants in the May 4, 1912, women’s march in New York City that Mabel Lee helped to lead. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Lee later attended Barnard College, an all women’s school founded because the nearby Columbia University refused to admit women at the time. There, Lee was part of the Chinese Students’ Association and wrote feminist essays – among them “The Meaning of Women’s Suffrage,” written in 1914. In this piece, Lee argued that suffrage for women was essential to a successful democracy.

She also continued her advocacy work as a speaker, and in 1915 delivered a speech on behalf of the Women’s Political Union, which was covered by the New York Times. Entitled “The Submerged Half,” it urged members of the Chinese-American community to promote girls’ education and women’s participation in civic life.

Mabel Lee in her Barnard College yearbook. Image courtesy of Barnard College.

Though women were granted the right to vote in New York in 1917, and nationally in 1920, Lee’s fight for universal suffrage would continue onward. The reality was that not all women benefitted from these laws: under the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese women were not allowed to vote. Under the law, which also limited Chinese immigration, Chinese immigrants were not allowed to become citizens, and Chinese women like Lee would not be able to vote until the law was removed in 1943 and they could become citizens. Despite these barriers, Lee and fellow suffragists continued to advocate for women’s rights.

She also went on to receive a Ph.D. in economics at the previously all-male Columbia University, the first Chinese woman to do so. Later in life, Dr. Lee also served as director of the First Chinese Baptist Church in New York City.

Dr. Mabel Lee died in 1966. In 2018, U.S. Congress approved legislation to rename the United States Post Office at 6 Doyers Street in China Town, New York City, in her honor.

Lee was featured in an April 13, 1912, New York Tribune article prior to her participation in the women’s march in New York City on May 4. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Read More:

NY Times Article from May 5, 1912, about the suffrage parade.

 

2020 marks the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

Writer, Suffragist, Feminist Icon: Louisa May Alcott

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Author of the internationally renowned “Little Women,” Louisa May Alcott blazed a path for female authors and thinkers to follow. She was also a dedicated abolitionist, suffragist, and nurse.

“Louisa May Alcott, writer, abolitionist, and Civil War nurse,” ca. 1870. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Early Life

Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Alcott and her three sisters – who would go on to inspire the central quartet of “Little Women” – spent their childhood in Concord, Massachusetts, where they were educated by their father, Bronson Alcott.

The Alcott’s had a somewhat unique childhood, growing up in part on a transcendentalist commune. The family held strong political convictions that influenced Louisa Alcott’s life in great measures, such as when she helped her parents hide escaped slaves traveling north on the Underground Railroad. The Concord community was also filled with radical thinkers who made up the Alcott’s social circles, including Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Writing became an early passion for Alcott, who augmented her education with poetry writing, visits to Emerson’s library, nature excursions with Thoreau (about whom she also wrote the poem “Thoreau’s Flute”), and staged plays in the barn at Hillside House in Concord (now known as the Wayside).

Orchard House, the childhood home of Louisa May Alcott and her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

When Louisa was a teenager, the Alcott family faced years of poverty that worked their way into the stories of “Little Women.” This period encouraged Alcott to take matters into her own hands in a world that offered little to no fiscal opportunity for women outside of marriage.

Before publishing her own works, Alcott worked as a teacher, seamstress, governess, and household servant to make ends meet. Alcott then vowed: “I will make a battering-ram of my head and make my way through this rough and tumble world.”

Flower Fables and Other Early Works

Alcott began her career with the publication of poetry and short stories. Some of these early works were signed “A.M. Barnard” and were categorized as “potboilers,” often lurid and violent tales – but they always featured female characters who were strong and independent. At age 22, Alcott achieved a major milestone with the publication of her first book, “Flower Fables.”

Cover and inscription of an 1898 edition of Louisa May Alcott’s first book, “Flower Fables.”  The book was dedicated to Ellen Emerson, daughter of Alcott’s friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. Images courtesy of the Library of Congress, where a fully scanned version of the text is also available.

Throughout her life, Alcott was involved with causes such as women’s suffrage and abolition, influenced by the many intellectuals who shared her home community. Alcott and her mother canvassed door-to-door in their community to encourage women to vote, and in 1879 Louisa was registered as the first woman to vote in the Concord school committee election.

As an adult, she also socialized with Frederick Douglass and Julia Howe, leaders in their respective causes. In 1861, after the start of the Civil War, Alcott enlisted as a nurse in a Union Hospital in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Though she had to leave her assignment early due to typhoid fever, the time proved to be immensely influential. In 1863, she published “Hospital Sketches,” a memoir detailing her time as a nurse, inspired by the letters she wrote to her family during this time.

Little Women

Well into her career, at age 35, Alcott’s publisher asked her to pivot and write a “girls’ story.” This directive led Alcott to write her magnum opus, “Little Women,” which stands the test of time as a seminal American text. The 492 pages of “Little Women, Part I” were written in three months at the desk her father built for her at her childhood home of Orchard House.

The book became an instant hit, resonating with stories of domestic life and realistic depictions of women not typically seen in contemporary fiction.

Listen to Arlington Public Library’s Big Book Club Podcast podcast episode on "Little Women," in which librarians Deborah and Megan talk with Pete about their personal experience of reading the book, the history of its publication, and why it is still worth talking about today.

Alcott published 30 books over the course of her life, cementing her in the pantheon of great American writers. She died on March 6, 1888, and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.

“The Late Louisa May Alcott,” wood engraving after photo, 1888. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Additional Resources

  • Read “Little Women,” available online at the Library.
  • Explore Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House virtually.
  • Watch the 1994 or 2019 film adaptations of “Little Women,” available on streaming sites.

2020 marks the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

Angel of the Battlefield: Humanitarian Clara Barton

Clara Barton (1821-1912)

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about women who have used their voices and their votes to better their communities and help shape the United States.

“Union Nurse Clara Burton,” photograph by C.R. Claflin, ca. 1865. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress. 

Clara Barton is an enduring symbol of humanitarianism for her work during the American Civil War, where she played a fundamental role in distributing much needed provisions and medical supplies to the Union Army. She was also renowned as an educator, nurse and a founder of the American Red Cross.

Barton was born on December 25, 1821, in Oxford, Massachusetts, the youngest of five children. She had her first experience in nursing while caring for her brother David and later became a teacher at age 18.

Early Career

At 24, she founded a school for children on the site of her brother’s mill and in 1852 she established the first free school in Bordentown, New Jersey. Barton resigned from her teaching position upon discovery that the school had hired a man at twice her salary. She left the post on the principle that she would never work for less than a man.

Following her teaching career, Barton began working as a recording clerk for the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., making her the first woman to hold the position. In line with her beliefs on the fundamental equality of women, she was paid $1,400 as a salary – the same as her male colleagues. After this milestone, however, she faced backlash. The then-Secretary of the Interior Robert McClelland opposed women serving in the government and demoted her to a copyist position at a lower salary.

February 13, 1860, Letter from Clara Barton to her nephew Bernard Vassall, which discusses women’s oppression. Part of the Clara Barton Papers at the Library of Congress.

American Civil War

In 1861, like all Americans, Barton’s life changed with the start of the Civil War. She quit her post in government and dedicated herself to bringing supplies to Union soldiers in need. She started by taking supplies to the men of the 6th Massachusetts Infantry housed in the unfinished Capitol building, some of whom had been her students and her peers growing up.

Barton collected relief articles including clothing, assorted foods, and supplies for sick and wounded soldiers, and appealed to the public to garner more donations. She also read to soldiers in the camps, wrote letters and prayed with them.

Soldiers of the 6th Regiment Massachusetts volunteer militia, one of the groups that Clara Barton helped bring supplies during the Civil War. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In 1862, she received official permission to transport supplies to battlefields and was present at every major battle in Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina. After the battle of Cedar Mountain in August 1862, Barton brought in a wagon load of supplies drawn by a four-mule team to the field hospital. Upon her arrival, the surgeon on duty commented: “I thought that night if heaven ever sent out a[n] … angel, she must be one – her assistance was so timely.” This led to Barton gaining the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield.”

Of her time on the battlefield, Barton said: “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them."

Though she had no formal medical training, in 1864 she was named head nurse for one of General Benjamin Butler’s units. In the aftermath of the war, Barton was also involved in helping prepare former enslaved people for freedom, as well as marking graves, testifying to Congress about her experience in the war, and helping locate missing soldiers. To help the latter cause, she established the Office of Correspondence with Friends of the Missing Men, which she operated out of her home on 7th Street in Washington, D.C. The Office received and answered over 63,000 letters and identified over 22,000 missing men during its four years of operation. A tracing service similar to this operation would eventually become a crucial part of the operations of the Red Cross.

“Clara Barton. A wartime photograph by Brady,” ca. 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Red Cross

After the war, Barton continued to serve her nation. After a visit to Europe, she was inspired by the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland, and lobbied to establish a branch in the United States. On May 21, 1881, the American Association of the Red Cross was formed, built up by Barton’s work writing pamphlets, lecturing and meeting with President Rutherford B. Hayes on the topic of support for the organization.

Barton was elected the group’s first president, and in 1882, the United States joined the International Red Cross. As its leader, Barton oversaw relief work for victims of the Johnstown Flood in 1889 and the Galveston Flood in 1900, among other events. She remained with the Red Cross until 1904, and that same year established the National First Aid Association of America.

Clara Barton, ca. 1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Later Years

Barton was also involved in civic causes including education, prison reform, women’s suffrage, and civil rights.

Barton died on April 12, 1912. Since her death, Barton has frequently been turned to as an example and reminder of American heroism, as in this newspaper article from May 31, 1940, written by The Northern Virginia Sun in the days leading up to World War II:

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