The struggle for the recognition of equality of women has been well documented in the history of the United States. One of the greatest and longest struggles have included African Americans. The effort to be seen as equal and respected for African American women is twofold. First, they were women and second, they were black women. They not only had to fight for the right to be equal to a man but race was a huge component on a larger stage. African Americans, both men and women were seen as inferior to whites during the age of slavery. African American women struggled during slavery because they were seen as property along with their male counterparts, however their sexuality proved to interweave them in a more violent and often misdirected …show more content…
This included African American women who became active abolitionist and supporters of women’s rights. Both white women and African American women began to form woman’s clubs whose purpose was the woman’s’ suffrage movement. Despite the strong support of women for the women’s suffrage movement, the black woman was often faced with discrimination within the movement. Some white suffragists thought white women voters would out number both the black man and woman combined thereby canceling out their vote entirely. Some clubs banned African American women altogether. In 1904, during an Address delivered before the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association, Mary Church Terrell says: “Not only are colored women with ambition and aspiration handicapped on account of their sex, but they are almost everywhere baffled and mocked because of their race.” (Terrell, …show more content…
African American women had suffered greatly during the history of America. They were oppressed and exploited during slavery. They were discriminated against on every level throughout history. African American women were tired of being treated as unequal as well as having to be segregated in public places. They readily joined the movement. Rosa Parks is perhaps the most recognized and well-known black woman of the Civil Rights Movement and gained recognition for being a famous activist for civil rights when she sat in the ‘whites only’ part of a bus she was taking home from work. When asked by a white man to give up her set to him, she refused. She was arrested for disobeying the Alabama law requiring black people to give up their seats to white people when the bus was full. This act eventually led to the 1956 Supreme Court decision banning segregation on public transportation. This act of nonviolent resistance became a mainstay illustrating the importance of black people fighting for their own