32. From Early in the Struggle For Women’s Rights, There Was Tension Between the Motives of White and Black Suffragists
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony supported equality for women. In practice, they meant equality for white women. After the Civil War, while both black and white women sought the right to vote, they had different motives. Stanton and Anthony sought the vote as symbol and substance of parity with their husbands, brothers, and fathers.
Black suffragists sought the vote for both themselves and their menfolk, to empower black communities. Especially in the South, where recently emancipated blacks were subjected to a violent reign of racist terror to keep them subservient and dis-empowered.