National Geographic - USA (2020-08)

accepted by the Supreme Court, says
llen Carol DuBois, author of Suffrage:
ong Battle for the Vote, “we ourselves
be in the situation where states are
depriving people of the right to vote,
all voter suppression.” If Minor had
uld have set a strong precedent for
uffrage.
Ida B. Wells, a journalist and civil
rights leader in Chicago, refused
to be shunted to the sidelines.
Woodrow Wilson had just been
elected president, and Alice
Paul, a young militant, orga-
nized a large suffragist parade
in Washington, D.C., on the day
before his inauguration.
Paul, who would go on to
lead the National Woman’s Party,
was intent on launching a
nation wide campaign. In a stra-
tegic move with far-reaching
ces, she and other white voting rights
pted to cultivate the support of south-
women—and to diminish the role of
en.
d faced off against lynch mobs in Ten-
d founded the first African-American
uffrage group in Chicago. She was one
ngest voices for women’s suffrage in
ut when she arrived in Washington
rade, she was told she would not be
with the Illinois delegation. Instead,
bring up the rear of the procession
black women. She refused.
inois women do not take a stand now
at democratic parade, then the col-
en are lost,” she declared. Her voice
with emotion and her face was set in
m determination, according to news-
orts. “I shall not march at all unless I
under the Illinois banner.”
he parade began, Wells wasn’t in it.
ay through, she walked out of the
assumed her place among the Illinois
o one dared remove her. When Illinois
e vote to women later that year, she
tration drive among African Ameri-
ventually helped elect the first black
n Chicago.
ells, Mary Church Terrell was a
f the National Association of Col-
en and the National Association for

Nicole

MONTCLAIR-

DONAGHY

Executive director, North Dakota Native Vote

founded in response

to a state requirement

that voters show an ID

with a residential street

address, which peo-

ple on reservations

often don’t have. It also

seeks to inspire Native

In the six weeks before

the 2018 elections,

Montclair-Donaghy put

3,000 miles on her car

driving across North

Dakota to ensure Native

Americans could vote.

Her organization was

Americans to vote.

“We are a matriarchal

society,” says Montclair-

Donaghy, a Hunkpapa

Lakota. “Most of the

work being done at

a grassroots level is

led by women.”

THE FIGHT TO BE HEARD 117