Suffragettes of Color

Portraits by Global Kids and Art and Design High School youth

Global Kids youth leaders have highlighted ten prominent women of color who made a significant impact in their fight for equality and Woman’s Suffrage in New York in honor of the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment and women’s constitutional right to vote.The artwork for this campaign was created as part of Global Kids’ Girl Hack digital education program.

Click on the portraits below to learn more about these brave women.

Victoria Earle Matthews by Alyssa Caraballo, 12th Grade
Date of Birth: May 27, 1861 Date of Death: March 10, 1907 Victoria Earle Matthews became involved in women's clubs and social work. In 1897, Matthews founded the White Rose Industrial Home for Working Class Negro Girls, aka the White Rose Mission, a settlement house for young Black Women, to provide them with safe housing, education, and life and job skills.

Sarah J. Garnet by Tracy Mendoza, 11th Grade
Birthday: July 31, 1831 Died: September 17, 1911 Sarah J. Smith Thompson Garnett owned a seamstress shop in Brooklyn from 1883 to 1911. In the late 1880s, Garnet helped found the Equal Suffrage Club, a Brooklyn-based club for black women. Sarah Garnet also served as superintendent of the Suffrage Department of the National Association of Colored Women.

Verina Morton Jones by Alyssa Caraballo, 12th Grade
Date of Birth: January 28, 1865 Date of Death: February 3, 1943 Verina Morton Jones was the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Mississippi. Jones was involved with and later elected to the Board of Directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Following this she had conducted programs to educate numerous voters, documented racial discrimination at polling places, and testified against committees of Congress.

Mabel Ping-Hua Lee by Jalyn Chiclana, 12th Grade
Date of Birth: October 7, 1897 Date of Death: 1966 Mabel Ping-Hua Lee was a Chinese advocate for women's suffrage in the United States, a member of the Women's Political Equality League, the "de-facto minister of the Chinese Baptist Mission", and the head of the First Chinese Baptist Church in New York's Chinatown for more than 40 years.

Sojourner Truth by Jeilyn Acosta, 12th Grade
Date of Birth: 1979 Date of Death: November 26th, 1883 Sojourner Truth was the first black woman to win a court case against a white man as a women’s rights activist. She was popularly known for her speech on racial inequalities, “Ain’t I a Woman?” that was addressed at the Ohio Women’s Convention. Sojourner was born into slavery but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826

Maritcha Remond Lyons by Jeilyn Acosta, 12th Grade
Date of Birth: June 23rd, 1848 Date of Death: January 28th, 1929 Maritcha Remond Lyons was the second black woman to serve in the public-school system as an assistant principal. She taught at public schools in Brooklyn for 48 years. Lyons fought for voting rights for women as a member of the Colored Women’s Equal Suffrage League of Brooklyn

Charlotte E. Ray by Jeilyn Acosta, 12th Grade:
Date of Birth: January 13th, 1850 Date of Death: January 4th, 1911 Charlotte E. Ray was the first black female lawyer in the United States. She was involved in the Women’s Suffrage movement, attended the National Woman Suffrage Association's New York convention in 1876 and joined the National Association of Colored Women. Charlotte ppened her own law office that was advertised in a newspaper by Frederick Douglass.

Irene Moorman by Tracy Mendoza, 11th Grade
Date of Birth: January 1872 Date of Death: 14 April 1951 Irene is remembered for her role in integrating the suffrage fight, bringing racial cooperation into the New York suffrage campaign. She is also remembered for her long service in supporting black unity as a means to acquiring socio-economic and political equality.

Maria Perkins Lawton by Jalyn Chiclana, 12th Grade
Date of Birth: April 30, 1864 Date of Death: 1946 Maria Perkins Lawton was was one of the most active members of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC) and was appointed as state organizer, served as president of the Empire State Federation, and as national chairperson of the NACW Program and Literature Committee. At the beginning of her career, Lawton was a Newspaper reporter for the Brooklyn Standard Union and wrote against derogatory words used against POC, she represented the state of New York at the National Negro Educational Congress meeting, and the first and oldest African American senior center was established in Brooklyn under her name (The Maria Lawton Senior Center).

Frances Reynolds Keyser by Jalyn Chiclana, 12th Grade
Date of Birth: ~1862 Date of Death: 1932 Frances Reynolds Keyser was thePresident of the Empire State Federation of (Black) Women’s clubs, she was the superintendent of the White Rose, and an officer in the National Association of Colored Women. She was a well known speaker for black women’s rights, was the academic dean and director of the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute along with the school’s founder (Mary McLeod Bethune), and founded/was the administrator of Keyser Elementary school.

“This project heavily resonated with what I learned in Girl Hack regarding women who had a long-lasting and strong impact on society. Being able to reciprocate this with my art meant a lot to me as i wanted to help others be inspired and recognize these important women across the city of New York.”
-Alyssa C., Art and Design HS student

“Women of color were instrumental to fight for women’s suffrage but as is often the case in our history, their work has been erased. We are thrilled to have our youth’s artwork make their contributions visible to all.”
-Evie Hantzopoulos, Global Kids Executive Director

“We are proud to partner with Global Kids as our talented creators further the legacy of Black female innovation, representation and advocacy. It is critical that our future leaders see the diverse possibilities of their own success by reflecting on past struggles for equality.”
-Maximillian Re-Sugiura, Art and Design HS Principal

Suffragettes of Color

Portraits by Global Kids and Art and Design High School youth

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