Since 1973, August 26 has marked Women’s Equality Day. The day commemorates the nineteenth amendment granting women the best to vote.

The nineteenth amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, nevertheless it actually wasn’t certified until it was signed by a government official eight days later. Not to say, all women weren’t granted the best to vote until Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

The charge to have fun the nineteenth amendment, was led by 50,000 second-wave feminists, who marched down Fifth Avenue in News York City. The march took place on fiftieth anniversary of the passing of the nineteenth amendment to demand women’s rights including abortion access, higher and inexpensive childcare, and equal access to education and employment. Generally known as the “Women’s Strike for Equality March,” sponsored by the National Organization for Women (NOW), the ladies locked arms and blocked traffic during rush hour. 

Latest York congresswoman Bella Abzug created and championed the bill to have fun the momentous occasion. While mainstream white feminism has historically excluded Black women’s efforts in achieving true equality, as we have fun Women’s Equality Day, here’s a take a look at 4 Black women who had a hand within the passing of the vacation.

01

Rep. Yvonne Burke

In 1966 Burke became the primary African-American woman elected to the California assembly. That very same 12 months she became the primary African-American woman elected to Congress from California–a historic 12 months, as Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm also were the one Black women at that time ever elected to Congress. Burke also won as the primary woman chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Though Burke would go on to be the “first” throughout her profession, probably the most notable headline would are available in 1973. She became the primary Congresswoman to provide birth and be granted maternity leave while serving in Congress, a precedent that can’t be missed on Women’s Equality Day.

By 2012 she was appointed to the Amtrak board of directors by President Barack Obama. She also serves on the California transportation commission and has been through each the Trump and Biden administrations.

02

Congresswoman Barbara Jordan

Representative Barbara Jordan the primary Black woman elected to the Texas state senate (the primary of any southern state) and the primary Black Texan in Congress in 1972. Jordan was a powerful supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. She introduced civil rights amendments to laws authorizing law enforcement assistance grants. Following the extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Jordan sponsored laws that broadened the provisions of the act to incorporate Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans. In 1976 she became the primary woman and the primary African-American keynote speaker at a Democratic National Convention. In 1994 Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. Jordan died of leukemia-related pneumonia on January 17, 1996. In keeping with the Latest York Times, “No landmark laws bears her name. Yet few lawmakers on this century have left a more profound and positive impression on the nation than Barbara Jordan.”

03

Rep. Cardiss Collins

Elected to 12 consecutive terms within the U.S. House of Representatives, Cardiss Collins ranks as one in all the longest-serving women of color within the history of Congress. As one in all only a handful of ladies to serve in Congress for greater than 20 years, and the one Black woman within the chamber for six years, Representative Collins was a dedicated legislator. Collins became As only the second woman to carry the leadership position within the CBC and because the fourth Black woman ever to serve within the U.S. House, she never strayed away from the highlight. She was vocal about her disapproval with President Jimmy Carter’s civil rights record and criticized him for failing to pass laws making Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a federal holiday. She also drafted laws to assist elderly women and ladies with disabilities receive Medicare coverage for mammograms and introduced a law designating October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Collins died in 2013, on the age of 81.

04

Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm

The “unbossed and unbought” Shirley Chisholm was a political powerhouse. Though now she is revered in history as the primary African-American Congresswoman and the primary African-American woman to run for president, her political moves caused lots of issues across racial and gender lines. Chisholm’s candidacy split the CBC as lots of her male colleagues felt she had not consulted them first. A lot of them believed that her actions betrayed the group’s interests by attempting to create a coalition of ladies, Hispanics, white liberals, and welfare recipients. Chisholm called out the misogyny declaring: “Black male politicians aren’t any different from white male politicians. This ‘woman thing’ is so deep. I’ve found it out on this campaign if I never knew it before.” While coping with the gender issue inside her race, she also handled race issues inside her gender. Her presidential campaign also strained her relationship with fellow Members of Congress, particularly Bella Abzug. Though Abzug and Chilsom worked together in the ladies’s liberation movement, Abzug opted to endorse South Dakota Senator George Stanley McGovern as a substitute of her friend Chisholm. Chisholm left Congress in 1983 and co-founded the National Political Congress of Black Women campaign.