Margaret Murray Washington was the wife of Booker T. Washington and the Dean of Women at Tuskegee Institute, a school founded by her husband.
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Suffrage.—Colored women, quite as much as colored men, realize that if there is ever to be equal justice and fair play in the protection in the courts everywhere for all races, then there must be an equal chance for all women as well as men to express their preference through their votes. There are certain things so sure to come our way that time in arguing them is not well spent. It is simply the cause of right which in the end always conquers, no matter how fierce the opposition. Personally woman suffrage has never kept me awake at night, but I am sure before this country is able to take its place amongst the great democratic nations of the earth it has got to come to the place where it is willing to trust its citizens, black as well as white, women as well as men. |
—Excerpt from Margaret Murray Washington, "Club Work Among Negro Women," 1895
1. What reason did Margaret Murray Washington give for not actively pursuing the right to vote for women?
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2. What did you think Washington meant when she wrote that woman suffrage had never kept her awake at night?
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