Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently quoted in an article published on The 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting at the intersection of gender, politics and policy. Titled “‘We’ versus ‘Me’: Suffrage centennial exposes vote gap in Black and White women,” the piece charts the divergent histories of voting rights activism, organizing, and victories for Black and White women from the movement to pass the 19th amendment through the present. Read an excerpt quoting Anderson below along with the full piece.
In the century since White women won access to the ballot, they have often sided with White men, choosing their race over their gender to maintain an unequal America, says Carol Anderson, Emory University professor and author of “One Person, No Vote.”
“Black women’s political power has been about strengthening the United States,” Anderson said. “For White women, it has been about entrenching White supremacy. It is about the ‘we’ versus the ‘me.’ And it’s that difference in framing that is fundamental.”