Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

In 1904, the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) established the motto "lifting as we climb." Though the NACWC's goals included suffrage for Black women, the vote was just one piece of the puzzle; they saw it as a tool they could use to improve the lives of all African Americans. It's from this movement that Dionne, a culture writer, editor, and former teacher, takes the title of her book, which traces Black women's fight for voting rights in America. Dionne demonstrates how the the suffrage movement was rooted in the abolitionist movement, profiling Black women who were crucial to the fight for the vote (both familiar and lesser-known figures are represented) and showing how the shock waves from these movements have reverberated through the Jim Crow South and present-day. Throughout, Dionne highlights how the stories of Black women have routinely been systemically buried. The white women who led the suffrage movement did not treat them as equals and were willing to deny or overlook the rights of Black women if it meant a quicker road to their own goals. And though many movements and stories were closely intertwined, few of these narratives are taught in history classrooms today. Dionne pulls back the veil on these stories, offering up an essential work for middle graders that helps to fill a gaping void.

Gr 5--7--Dionne clearly presents the difficult battle for women's suffrage that African American women endured before Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment on June 4, 1919. The trek to the ballot box for African American women was a difficult one, with many grim realities to overcome before and after the amendment's ratification. Beginning with the start of the abolitionist movement in the 1830s and continuing to the present day, Dionne demonstrates why women anti-slavery advocates (African American and white) felt the need to band together to fight the sexism of the national abolitionist establishment. For instance, at the organizational meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society, African American women were not invited to attend. The select white women in attendance were expected to observe the proceedings in silence. African American women fought their marginalization in the anti-slavery and later female suffrage movements and made their voices heard. The identification of African American women activists and the parts they played in American history is the strength of Dionne's book. So many of these women played pivotal roles in the passage of fundamental civil rights legislation, yet remain unidentified in mainstream accounts. VERDICT A must-purchase for all secondary school libraries. Readers who liked Fighting Chance: The Struggle Over Woman Suffrage and Black Suffrage In Reconstruction America by Faye E. Dudden and Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement edited by Bettye Collier-Thomas will particularly like Dionne's work.--Susan Catlett, Green Run High School, Virginia Beach

In her preface, "Not the History You Learned in School," Dionne sets the historical scene with the 2016 presidential campaign. Having observed multiple people placing their "I Voted" stickers at the gravesite of Susan B. Anthony, Dionne points out that "Black women also fought, were beaten or jailed, and faced serious, sometimes violent, opposition to gain the right to vote -- even after 1920. Where were their stickers?" Beginning from the suffrage movement in the 1830s, with its members squabbling over whether the voting rights of Black men or (in particular, white) women should take precedence, Black women have always found themselves in precarious positions. Dionne's meticulous research provides insight into how Black women maneuvered this intersectionality, addressing their specific needs as to both women's rights and "improving the lives of African Americans." Throughout the arduous fight for the end of slavery and for women's suffrage, there were Black women who rose to prominence and spoke out against the injustices -- as much as possible, as they were also under intense scrutiny to become "respectable" wives and mothers, to never present themselves in a manner that could be deemed "too loud, too bold, too aggressive, or too angry." Dionne chronicles and champions each heroine who pushed through prejudice to contribute to the overall suffrage movement, as well as their contributions to their immediate communities. Continuing through the present day, the author ends with a cautionary note of the work still to be done to ensure the right to vote for all American citizens, and a reminder: "preserving the right to vote still matters -- forever and always." Archival photographs appear throughout; interspersed sidebars fill the pages (almost distractingly so) with extended biographies of suffragists and key historical moments. See also How Women Won the Vote and Finish the Fight, reviewed on pages 111 and 113. Eboni Njoku September/October 2020 p.115(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

African American women had to battle both sexism and racism in their quest for the right to vote. The roots of the historical women's suffrage movement can be found in efforts to end slavery in the United States. However, small numbers of black female abolitionists participated, and as the activism expanded to women's rights, African Americans were mostly excluded. Dionne provides a detailed and comprehensive look at the overlooked roles African American women played in the efforts to end slavery and then to secure the right to vote for women, arguing that black women worked consistently for their communities in all areas. The ways in which the black women's club movement, the anti-lynching movement, and other activism combined to press for full citizenship are on display. "Getting the right to vote wasn't the end goal; improving the lives of African Americans was." There are familiar names such as Ida B. Wells and Mary McLeod Bethune, but there are also many not as well known. Dionne is clear about the fact that even as women prepared to march for the 19th Amendment, white leaders kept black suffragists separate. Amply illustrated with archival drawings and photographs and supported with contextualizing sidebars, the narrative concludes with a discussion of the Voting Rights Act and contemporary efforts by African Americans to fight against voter suppression. A lively and critical addition as the United States commemorates the centennial of women's suffrage. (sources, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 10-16) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

*Starred Review* In 1904, the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) established the motto lifting as we climb. Though the NACWC's goals included suffrage for Black women, the vote was just one piece of the puzzle; they saw it as a tool they could use to improve the lives of all African Americans. It's from this movement that Dionne, a culture writer, editor, and former teacher, takes the title of her book, which traces Black women's fight for voting rights in America. Dionne demonstrates how the the suffrage movement was rooted in the abolitionist movement, profiling Black women who were crucial to the fight for the vote (both familiar and lesser-known figures are represented) and showing how the shock waves from these movements have reverberated through the Jim Crow South and present-day. Throughout, Dionne highlights how the stories of Black women have routinely been systemically buried. The white women who led the suffrage movement did not treat them as equals and were willing to deny or overlook the rights of Black women if it meant a quicker road to their own goals. And though many movements and stories were closely intertwined, few of these narratives are taught in history classrooms today. Dionne pulls back the veil on these stories, offering up an essential work for middle graders that helps to fill a gaping void. Grades 5-8. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

Gr 5–7—Dionne clearly presents the difficult battle for women's suffrage that African American women endured before Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment on June 4, 1919. The trek to the ballot box for African American women was a difficult one, with many grim realities to overcome before and after the amendment's ratification. Beginning with the start of the abolitionist movement in the 1830s and continuing to the present day, Dionne demonstrates why women anti-slavery advocates (African American and white) felt the need to band together to fight the sexism of the national abolitionist establishment. For instance, at the organizational meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society, African American women were not invited to attend. The select white women in attendance were expected to observe the proceedings in silence. African American women fought their marginalization in the anti-slavery and later female suffrage movements and made their voices heard. The identification of African American women activists and the parts they played in American history is the strength of Dionne's book. So many of these women played pivotal roles in the passage of fundamental civil rights legislation, yet remain unidentified in mainstream accounts. VERDICT A must-purchase for all secondary school libraries. Readers who liked Fighting Chance: The Struggle Over Woman Suffrage and Black Suffrage In Reconstruction America by Faye E. Dudden and Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement edited by Bettye Collier-Thomas will particularly like Dionne's work.—Susan Catlett, Green Run High School, Virginia Beach