Division in the Progressive Campaign for Suffrage
After disagreements over the 14th and 15th amendments that addressed African American men’s citizenship and voting rights, the mainstream campaign split in 1869 to form two organizations: the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA).
Some Black suffragists were active with the mainstream organizations, but racism within the white women’s suffrage campaign effectively pushed Black women out.
By 1890, a prominent Black women’s club movement was thriving and the mainstream groups re-emerged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).