Welcome to Lifting As We Climb: Mapping the Stories of African American Suffragists.

“Lifting as We Climb” was the motto of the National Association of Colored Women (now known as the National Association of Colored Women Clubs), a national organization created in 1896 to support African American women’s rights reforms. Many of the women who founded and participated in NACW were ardent woman suffragists, but their stories are often silence or ignored.

Today, the traditional narrative of women’s suffrage centers on women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Alice Paul. These women led major organizations such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the National Woman’s Party. However, these successful movements had a troubled relationship with women of color. The white middle-class women who participated in these mainstream organizations often excluded African American women in attempts to gain support from women in south, or due to their own prejudices. African American women then, although they participated in suffrage campaigns through these mainstream organizations or through their own clubs and actions, are often excluded from most discussions of the suffrage movement.

This project was designed to add another layer to that conversation. By researching and sharing the stories of African American women who were involved in suffrage campaigns, we can gain a better understanding of what these women’s lives were like. This research can uncover where they lived, who they interacted with (both in their own activist communities, and with traditionally white suffrage organizations) and what opportunities they created for themselves. These stories are just the beginning as we take more time to learn about the complex histories of the women who came before us.