Black women and the vote! Fascinating new work from Jennifer Helton: In 1870, Black woken voted in Wyoming. Were they the first Black women to vote in the US?! The answer surprised me. www.wyohistory.org/blog/researc... - ThreadSky

marthasjones.bsky.social • 1 day ago

Black women and the vote! Fascinating new work from Jennifer Helton: In 1870, Black woken voted in Wyoming. Were they the first Black women to vote in the US?! The answer surprised me.
https://www.wyohistory.org/blog/researching-early-black-women-voters-wyoming

Comments

neptuniandemocracy.bsky.social•1 day ago

South Carolina’s history that few people know of Beaufort and the riveting story of Congressman Robert Smalls
https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/21764

St Helena Island’s powerful black community where MLK found safely and whites tried to purchase for decades
https://coastalconservationleague.org/blog/st-helena-island-gullah-geechee-history-heritage-continues/

womanisthbscholar.bsky.social•1 day ago

She makes a good case that Black women in Wyoming were the first to vote in the US. Thanks for sharing and for sparking her interest.

cathleendcahill.bsky.social•1 day ago

Wonderful! Thank you for sharing, Martha!

courtwing.bsky.social•1 day ago

The “woken”; I like that..!

marthasjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

LOL. My early morning posts aren’t what they should be!

courtwing.bsky.social•1 day ago

But it’s a good “mistake”; I like that term.

gbrockell.bsky.social•1 day ago

I thought there *might* have been a few Black women who voted in New Jersey 1776-1807?

marthasjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’d love to hear more.

gbrockell.bsky.social•1 day ago

Marcela Micucci is the researcher. Basically, anyone in NJ worth 50lbs could vote in that period; she found at least 143 women and one Black man voted. When I wrote about it in 2020 she hadn’t confirmed if any of the 143 were Black women, but she was trying! https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/local/history/new-jersey-women-vote-1776-suffrage/

marthasjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

And here is some of Marcela Micucci’s findings. No evidence of Black women voting in NJ here. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/first-generation-americas-women-voters-1776-1807

gbrockell.bsky.social•1 day ago

I should have checked for a more recent update. Too bad, but fascinating! Thank you for all you do and for highlighting the Wyoming research — I grew up in Fort Collins, near Wyoming, so I knew women voted there early, but no idea that included Black women!

marthasjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’m so glad!

marthasjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

What great companion stories!

kghist.bsky.social•1 day ago

Apparently, when the British signed the treaty with Queen Yamacouba of Sierra Leone in 1787, it included an old model of English local voting: household suffrage. Female householders were therefore entitled to vote when elections were held in 1792. (They lost the right in 1808).

marthasjones.bsky.social•1 day ago

Thank you!

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