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Susan B Anthony was a bad person. She didn't fight for "women's right to vote " She fought for "*White* women's right to vote." It would be one thing if she just didn't focus on Black folks' right to vote, but she actively worked against it. As hard as she fought for White women to get to vote, she actively campaigned against the Black vote and constructed a coalition of racists to keep Black feminists out, and hold Black voters back.
She was a white supremacist. White supremacists are bad
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Susan B Anthony was the first in a long line of "white feminists" who work against their own interests by refusing to ally with Black women. They take precious time out from ending their own oppression, to heap more oppression onto Black women
Susan B Anthony is closer to Margarie Taylor Green than to Elizabeth Warren. She would almost certainly be a Trump voter.
It's Nov 5th, 2024. If the majority of white women vote with Black women today, it would be the 1st time in almost 100 years.
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@mekkaokereke I'm sure you know this, but the standard history is that Susan B Anthony was a lifelong abolitionist and supporter of Black rights including universal suffrage. Are you saying that story is incorrect in important ways?
At least in the standard telling, there was a struggle within AERA where one group decided that strategically they couldn't get both Black suffrage and female suffrage and they asked the feminists to stand down while they worked exclusively for the Black male vote.
From Wikipedia
> After the Kansas campaign, the AERA increasingly divided into two wings, both advocating universal suffrage but with different approaches. One wing, whose leading figure was Lucy Stone, was willing for black men to achieve suffrage first and wanted to maintain close ties with the Republican Party and the abolitionist movement. The other, whose leading figures were [Susan B.] Anthony and Stanton, insisted that *women and black men should be enfranchised at the same time* and worked toward a politically independent women's movement that would no longer be dependent on abolitionists.
(emphasis mine)
Is this wrong? Thanks
I agree that in general there is a history of white supremacy in various feminist movements.
Yes, the "story" is wrong in important ways.
I didn't say that Susan B Anthony was pro-slavery. I very specifically said that she was a white supremacist, she formed an organization of white supremacists, she kept out Black suffragettes, and she hindered Black people's access to the vote. Oh, and that she was a bad person.
Surprisingly, most white supremacists are not pro-slavery. Most famously, Abraham Lincoln was a self-admitted white supremacist, and also abolitionist
@mekkaokereke okay thanks
But do you disagree specifically with historians that she supported and fought for the vote for both Black women and white women?
I understand you think she's a bad person, and I know there have been a lot of articles recently focusing on the conflict. That's I think a good debate about judgment and the things we should value.
But it kind of sounds like you believe she only supported the vote for white women or only fought for their right to vote, which is an empirical claim I haven't seen anybody make yet.
Many US historians are liars. They know the truth, but then they lie about it, to minimize the racism. Because it's is shameful.
It's not hard to find primary sources on Susan B Anthony's correspondence and conversations with Frederick Douglass, and Ida B Wells. It's not hard to find out exactly how many Black women were invited to Seneca Falls. It's not hard to confirm that she literally opposed the 15th amendment, because she didn't want Black men to get the vote first.