Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

National Archives Museum
Online

In Vanguard, historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American women’s political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of Black women, such as Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Fannie Lou Hamer. Joining Professor Jones in conversation will be author and journalist A’Lelia Bundles.