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OP-ED: Redefining Suffrage, Unerasing Black Women

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The 19th Amendment was adopted Aug. 18, 1920, after the required number of states ratified the constitutional measure. Though many Black women led suffrage campaigns, the 19th Amendment put white women on an empowerment tract to electoral engagement. Interestingly, the suffrage movement, festooned in the symbolic color white, is often portrayed through a narrow window uncomplicated by the strictures of race and power that framed the Amendment then and now.

Published

5 years ago

January 19, 2020

Oakland Post

Gwen McKinney is campaign director of an initiative, "Suffrage. Race. Power: Unerased Black Women," that will launch in March.

By Gwen McKinney

Sojourner Truth. Harriet Tubman. Ida B. Wells. Shirley Chisholm. Rosa Parks.

These household names, spanning a couple of centuries, qualify for the Suffrage Hall of Fame.

Almost a buzz word synonymous with the Year of the Woman, in 2020 the centerpiece of suffrage will be marked by the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment granting women’s voting rights. Referred to as a bold justice movement, suffrage will be celebrated as America’s march to full democracy.

In popular parlance, can we unpack the significance of suffrage and inclusive democracy for Black women? Words matter. But the impact and impetus of their meaning matter more.

Here’s a composite definition from online dictionaries:

Suffrage is the right to vote in public elections. Universal suffrage means everyone gets to vote, as opposed to only men or property holders… For example, after trying for about a hundred years, American women were granted suffrage and voted for the first time in 1920.

The 19th Amendment was adopted Aug. 18, 1920, after the required number of states ratified the constitutional measure. Though many Black women led suffrage campaigns, the 19th Amendment put white women on an empowerment tract to electoral engagement. Interestingly, the suffrage movement, festooned in the symbolic color white, is often portrayed through a narrow window uncomplicated by the strictures of race and power that framed the Amendment then and now.

Look no further than the historical landscape of that moment. Congressional approval of the Act in 1919 was the same year as the infamous Red Summer, a tumultuous white supremacist reign of terror and lynching in Black communities across the country. One year after the 19th Amendment was adopted in 1921 racist mobs set ablaze Tulsa, OK, decimating what was revered as Black Wall Street.

The Year of the Woman battle cry is perversely at odds with Black women’s unbroken quest for liberation. Although lauded today as the most reliable and consistent voting bloc for democratic change, we’ve historically endured being marginalized, dismissed and erased.

Black women’s demand to be equal and heard extends beyond the century run-up to the 19th Amendment. It was intersectional and linked with abolition of slavery, anti-lynching battles, literacy drives, sharecropper land rights campaigns and the establishment of a radical Black press that was led by many Black women suffragists.

Our suffrage quest continued through the Civil Rights Era and passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which finally, for the first time, delivered the franchise to Black people in the South.

Rewind centuries earlier.

Our demand to self-govern predates the formation of this republic, beginning in 1619 when the first Africans, snatched from their ancestral home, landed on these shores. Those nameless suffrage pioneers joined with their men to resist and carry the torch for all people – Native Americans, Chinese immigrants and even Irish indentured servants – denied fundamental liberty. Then and now, we wage claims to own our bodies, voices and choices.

We build on that truth by redefining suffrage beyond the limited act of casting a ballot. For Black women, the narrative is rooted in telling herstory, unerasing the achievements of yesterday and the possibilities for the future.

This centennial year is an appropriate time to redefine universal suffrage through the prism of triumphs and tragedies. Trust Black women must be more than a cliché.

Unerased Black Women promises to create brave spaces and in alliance with Black newspapers across the country, unfurl a frank public conversation about Suffrage, Race, and Power.

Through a digital destination, we’ll turn our ear to a beating heart of resilience, resistance, words and deed. Daughter of slaves, descendants of warriors, writers, journalists, teachers, mentors, activists – universal suffragists all – have something to say.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Anna Julia Cooper. Mary Ann Shadd. Harriet Jacobs. Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin. Mary McLeod Bethune. Fannie Lou Hamer. Ella Baker. Gertrude Bustill-Mossell. Charlotta Bass. Marvel Jackson Cooke.

Most of these women can’t claim household name status in the traditional suffrage roll call. But their noble stories will be unerased.

Stay tuned as suffrage, redefined, meets our truth.

Gwen McKinney is campaign director of an initiative, “Suffrage. Race. Power: Unerased Black Women,” that will launch in March.

Oakland Post

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IN MEMORIAM: Legendary Funk Pioneer Sly Stone Dies at 82

Sly Stone’s musical approach radically reshaped popular music. He transcended genre boundaries and empowered a new generation of artists. The band’s socially conscious message and infectious rhythms sparked a wave of influence, reaching artists as diverse as Miles Davis, George Clinton, Prince, Dr. Dre, and the Roots.

Published

23 hours ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Sly and the Family Stone play the Opera House in Bournemouth. Mojo review. Photo by Simon Fernandez.

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Newswire

Sylvester “Sly” Stewart—known to the world as Sly Stone, frontman of the groundbreaking band Sly and the Family Stone—has died at the age of 82.

His family confirmed that he passed away peacefully at his Los Angeles home surrounded by loved ones, after battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other health complications.

Born March 15, 1943, in Denton, Texas, Stone moved with his family to Vallejo, California, as a child. He began recording gospel music at age 8 with his siblings in a group called the Stewart Four. By his teenage years, he had mastered multiple instruments and was already pioneering racial integration in music—an ethos that would define his career.

In 1966, Sly and his brother Freddie merged their bands to form Sly and the Family Stone, complete with a revolutionary interracial, mixed-gender lineup.

The band quickly became a commercial and cultural force with hits such as “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People,” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”—all penned by Stone himself.

Their album “Stand!” (1969) and live performances—most notably at Woodstock—cemented their reputation, blending soul, funk, rock, gospel, and psychedelia to reflect the optimism and turmoil of their era.

As the 1970s progressed, Stone confronted personal demons. His desire to use music as a response to war, racism, and societal change culminated in the intense album “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” (1971). But drug dependency began to undermine both his health and professional life, leading to erratic behavior and band decline through the early 1980s.

Withdrawn from the public eye for much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Stone staged occasional comebacks. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys in 2017, and captured public attention following the 2023 release of his memoir “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”—published under Questlove’s imprint. He also completed a biographical screenplay and was featured in Questlove’s documentary “Sly Lives!” earlier this year.

His influence endured across generations. Critics and historians repeatedly credit him with perfecting funk and creating a “progressive soul,” shaping a path for racial integration both onstage and in the broader culture.

“Rest in beats Sly Stone,” legendary Public Enemy frontman Chuck D posted on social media with an illustrative drawing of the artist. “We should thank Questlove of the Roots for keeping his fire blazing in this century.”

Emmy-winning entertainment publicist Danny Deraney also paid homage. “Rest easy Sly Stone,” Deraney posted. “You changed music (and me) forever. The time he won over Ed Sullivan’s audience in 1968. Simply magical. Freelance music publicist and Sirius XM host Eric Alper also offered a tribute.

“The funk pioneer who made the world dance, think, and get higher,” Alper wrote of Sly Stone. “His music changed everything—and it still does.”

Sly Stone is survived by three children.

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PRESS ROOM: Clyburn on 10th Anniversary of Mother Emanuel AME Church Shooting in Charleston

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06) released the following video on X, paying tribute to the 10th anniversary of the shooting that took place at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015.

Published

1 day ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

By Congressman James E. Clyburn

WATCH HERE

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06) released the following video on X, paying tribute to the 10^th anniversary of the shooting that took place at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015.

“Over 6 years ago, the House first passed my Enhanced Background Checks Act to close the Charleston Loophole that allowed a white supremacist to obtain the gun he used to murder nine worshipers at Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015.

“I’ll never stop fighting to pass this law.”