SESSION 3: Our Place in Politics | Work Among Our Women | Negro in the Wars of the Nation | Address to the Country
Work Among Our Women
|African-American women have a tradition of independence and leadership dating back to the times of slavery. In spite of great danger, black women took leading roles in the struggle for abolition; two strong leaders were Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. Truth was a powerful speaker against slavery. A heckler once called out, "Old woman...I don't care any more for your talk than I do for the bite of a flea." Truth replied, "Perhaps not, but the good Lord willing, I'll keep you scratching."
Harriet Tubman, a slave, obtained her freedom, declaring, "I had a right to liberty or death; if I could not have one I would have another." Despite a reward of $40,000 for her capture, pistol-packing Tubman returned to the South many times, leading more than 300 slaves to their freedom via the "Underground Railway." She served with Union forces during the Civil War and acted as a scout behind enemy lines.
After the Civil War, African-American women such as Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary McCloud Bethune, and Mary Church Terrell were active participants in the struggle for advancement and against Jim Crow segregation laws.
from "The Progress of Colored Women" by Mary Church Terrell
SESSIONS: Segregation and Violence | Solving the Race Problem | Contributions to the Nation