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Reporting by Caitlyn Arnwine (formerly Caitlyn Cobb). Written in 2020 and given a 2025-specific edit. A reference list can be found at the bottom of the article as well as more information about this entire series.

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Today, February 12th, 2025, we honor the First National Conference of the Colored Women of America. While Black women were present in organizing throughout all of American history, this conference held in August 1895 would mark the first this three-day organizing and strategy conference of its kind in the United States. Representatives from 42 African-American women's clubs gathered in Boston, Massachusetts with the shared goal of creating a national organization for Black women. Black women expressed via poll responses the need for such an organization in the early 1890's. The final tipping point was in 1895 when "an obscure Missouri journalist named John Jacks sent a letter to the secretary of the British Anti-Slavery Society, Florence Belgarnie. In the letter, Jacks criticized the anti-lynching work of Ida B. Wells, and wrote that black women had 'no sense of virtue' and were 'altogether without character'..." (Revolvy, N.D.b)

In every modern-day election cycle, Black women continue to organize their strong political power and also continue to have to defend their virtue and character as women and as Black women, such as when former Vice President Kamala Harris had to defend herself against sexist and racist attacks on her 2024 presidential campaign. The unity shown in the percentages of how Black women consistently vote together is a reflection of how those 42 African American women's clubs in 1895, long before Zoom, banded together.

"Soon after [the letter], [Boston activist Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin] organized a national conference in Boston, and asked clubs to send delegates. The first day was to be devoted to the business of organizing, and the second and third to 'vital questions concerning our moral, mental, physical and financial growth and well-being.' In the call, Ruffin explained the choice of venue: 'Boston has been selected as a meeting place because it has seemed to be the general opinion that here, and here only, can be found the atmosphere which would best interpret and represent us, our position, our needs, and our aims.'" (Revolvy, N.D.b)

Josephine Ruffin was a civil rights leader and suffragist. She founded the Woman's Era Club, an advocacy group for black women and the first Black women's club in Boston. (Revolvy, N.D.b)

HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

We hope you enjoy our #VRABlackHistory Series 2025 with the theme:

"Facing Extremism: How Our Ancestors Successfully Fought For Our Rights and #WeWillToo"

From the Transformative Justice Coalition and the Voting Rights Alliance

Please note, if you'd like to opt out from only the upcoming daily Black History Month Voting Rights Alliance #VRABlackHistory series, please email carnwine@tjcoalition.org. Unsubscribing at the bottom of this email unsubscribes you to all Transformers, not just from this special February Series.

The Transformative Justice Coalition and the Voting Rights Alliance, in honor of Black History Month, are continuing the annual tradition of our daily special series devoted to sharing the legacies and stories of the sheroes, heroes, and events in the fight for Black suffrage. This series was created in 2017 and will introduce many new articles this year. In addition to these daily newsletters all February long, this series also incorporates daily social media posts; an interactive calendar; and, website blog posts to spread the word broadly.

This year, the Voting Rights Alliance’s #VRABlackHistory Series will take readers through the most difficult fights for our African-American voting rights- and how we won.

Feel free to publish on your social media outlets and teach these lessons, with credit given to the Transformative Justice Coalition. Please let us know if you do share the series so we can publicly recognize and thank you. Be sure to send any publications to carnwine@tjcoalition.org so we can repost!

Others can sign up for the daily articles at VotingRightsAlliance.org. 

The 2025 #VRABlackHistory Series #WeWillToo Edition will connect our history to modern times to show just how our ancestors beat the odds. Every day, this series will detail in chronological order the fights for Black suffrage, and will feature articles on the Fugitive Slave Laws and the parallels to the present day mass deportation raids conducted by ICE; the fight for same day voter registration; how our ancestors worked with hostile presidencies and courts to achieve rights; how Juneteenth has been used to mobilize voters; the amazing achievements of the Reconstruction Era; why birthright citizenship began and how the 14th Amendment has been interpreted throughout history; how DEI initiatives started in the 1860's; the 15th Amendment; how we achieved the first anti-lynching laws in Georgia and how lynching was used to suppress the vote; how we moved past the Jim Crow Era; how Black youth mobilized to lower the voting age to 18; how the Tuskegee Airmen went on to fight for voting rights after their service; how boycotts were used to fight for voting rights; the "Souls To The Polls" voting initiatives of the Black churches in the 1950's- 1990's; how Black people fought for voting rights for disabled people; how Black people fought for equal access to the ballot for the LGBTQIA community; how the Brunswick, Georgia community banded together after the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in 2020 to vote out their District Attorney; the history of voting rights for Black women and how Black women continue to vote and lead voter efforts at amazing rates; how we have historically used the Black press to fight for our right to vote; and, more.

Our ancestors faced much greater opposition than we do today, even as we face a new hostile federal Administration- and they persevered. The sentiment felt by some African-Americans post-election is to sit back, sit out, and a general feeling of frustration and hopelessness. This Series targets those feelings: we can win! This Edition of the Series is also a tribute to all of those fighting back, especially against efforts to ban DEI and our history. “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” – so let us learn from our history, our beautiful, strong, resilient, Black History.

Did you miss any of the #VRABlackHistory series articles?

Go to VotingRightsAlliance.org to view them all!