The most significant man
Title
The most significant man
Description
I’m chasing down a citation, so you’ll have to wait to hear from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, one of few Black women on the record in these debates. First, a word from Frederick Douglass. Thread.
It would not be an overstatement to say that among his many towering accomplishments, Douglass was the most significant man in the fight for women’s suffrage. From Seneca Falls to the founding of the AERA, he was a constant and devoted ally over decades.
He spent the post-war years crusading for the vote for Black people, even if that meant only men at first. Yet he didn’t try to quash Stanton & Anthony’s demand to include women too, supporting them when other male abolitionists did not.
He did tell them - many times, over many years - to stop being so racist. Faye Dudden quotes Douglass to ElizCadyStanton in Feb 1866: “I have about made up my mind that if you can forgive me for being a Negro, I cannot do less than to forgive you for being a woman.” #Suffrage100
It would not be an overstatement to say that among his many towering accomplishments, Douglass was the most significant man in the fight for women’s suffrage. From Seneca Falls to the founding of the AERA, he was a constant and devoted ally over decades.
He spent the post-war years crusading for the vote for Black people, even if that meant only men at first. Yet he didn’t try to quash Stanton & Anthony’s demand to include women too, supporting them when other male abolitionists did not.
He did tell them - many times, over many years - to stop being so racist. Faye Dudden quotes Douglass to ElizCadyStanton in Feb 1866: “I have about made up my mind that if you can forgive me for being a Negro, I cannot do less than to forgive you for being a woman.” #Suffrage100
Creator
Daily Suffragist
Source
Date
19/10/2019
Files
Collection
Citation
Daily Suffragist, “The most significant man,” Daily Suffragist, accessed April 25, 2024, https://dailysuffragist.omeka.net/items/show/130.