These are the words my great-great aunt, the prominent suffrage reporter Miriam Michelson, used to describe Mary-Ellen Pleasant, a black successful real estate magnate, entrepreneur and abolitionist in 1897 in the San Francisco Call.
Miriam Michelson, San Francisco Call, 1897
“Straight up racism on the part of some suffragists who felt that African-Americans were not worthy” of the vote led to tremendous conflicts between white and black women at the time, asThey could not agree on the best strategies for achieving passage and ratification of what became the 19Amendment giving women the right to vote – which required winning over the votes of hundreds of white men, first in Congress and the White House, and then in state legislatures across the country.
There is no doubt that Harris’s tenure as California Attorney General is pock-marked with controversy. Some people in the black community questioned her support for their rights during the Democratic primary in 2019, because of dissatisfaction with her criminal justice policies as AG, including about police brutality.
Women taking unpopular stances – having the audacity to stick their heads up, to speak up, to speak truth to power, to ask for the job or the raise, and to speak loudly enough to be heard – have been vilified throughout history and continue to be in office, boardrooms, classrooms and C-suites. It’s time to stop.
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