Equal Suffrage League was a

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

organization founded by Sarah J. Garnet in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, in the late 1880s to advocate for voting rights for

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

women. Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward was a contributor to the founding of the organization. The group worked to abolish both gender and race bias. After Garnet became the Superintendent of the Suffrage Department for the

National Association of Colored Women The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of ...

(NACW), the Equal Suffrage League affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women. The small organization initially met in Garnet's seamstress shop. In 1907 the Equal Suffrage League and National Association of Colored Women jointly supported a resolution supporting the principles of the

Niagara Movement The Niagara Movement (NM) was a civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group of activists—many of whom were among the vanguard of African-American lawyers in the United States—led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. The Ni ...

that advocated for equal rights for all

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

citizens. The organization was short-lived, ending when Garnet died in 1911.

References

{{Authority control 1880s establishments in New York (state) 1880s in New York City 1911 disestablishments in New York (state) 1911 in New York City 19th century in Brooklyn 20th century in Brooklyn Women's clubs in the United States African-American history in New York City History of women in New York City Feminism in New York City Women's suffrage in New York (state) Women's suffrage advocacy groups in the United States