GBH Forum Network: Martha S. Jones with Charlotte Golar Richie on Black Women Breaking Voting Barriers

In celebration of Women’s History Month, on March 30, 2022, Suffrage100MA (now the Massachusetts Women's History Center) and GBH Forum Network  presented acclaimed historian and writer Martha S. Jones, who will discuss her book, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All (2020). Professor Jones was interviewed by Charlotte Golar Richie, longtime advocate for racial equity and women’s political leadership. Fredie Kay, Founder & President of Suffrage100MA, served as moderator.

In her book, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, Jones recounts how Black women 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 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of these women — Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more — who were the vanguard of women’s rights, calling on America to realize its best ideals. Vanguard was selected as one of Time’s 100 must-read books.

Purchase the book here to support the only Black-owned bookstore in Boston: Frugal Bookstore.

ABOUT AUTHOR MARTHA S. JONES:
Professor Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History, and a Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at The Johns Hopkins University. She is a legal and cultural historian whose work examines how Black Americans have shaped the story of American democracy. Professor Jones is the author of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All (2020), selected as one of Time’s 100 must-read books for 2020. https://marthasjones.com/vanguard

CHARLOTTE GOLAR RICHIE:
Charlotte Golar Richie has spent 25 years in government — as a former state legislator, civil rights commissioner, housing chief & neighborhood development director. Since her ground-breaking campaign in 2013 as the first African American woman to run for Mayor of Boston, Charlotte has dedicated her time to board and philanthropic activities, and uplifting the leadership efforts of women and people of color.

FREDIE KAY:
Fredie Kay is an attorney and women’s rights and political advocate, as well as Founder and President of Suffrage100MA, a non-profit, non-partisan organization with over 200 Partners, committed to recognizing the importance of the 19th Amendment, voting rights and access to voting today. She serves on the Votes for Women National Trail Committee of the National Collaborative of Women’s History Sites (NCWHS) and in leadership positions with a number of other organizations.