Schomburg Center Initiative To Honor Suffrage Activists Of Color

HARLEM, NY — The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem will launch a new initiative to study and illuminate the contributions that women of color made to the suffrage movement ahead of the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment in 2020, the center announced this week.

The new Ella Baker Initiative — named after the longtime civil rights activist and onetime 135th Street library employee — will fund paid scholarships for two students studying women’s leadership in civil rights, voting and political engagement, New York Public Library officials announced. The Schomburg Center will also hold public events and workshops and curate an exhibit through grants provided by the initiative.

"The mentorships proposed at the core of this grant honor the legacy of women of color like Ella Baker, who have long understood the power of learning and literacy to empower civil rights and voting rights advocates, and think about history as a living force that these students and early career aspirants can have a great impact on," Schomburg Center Director Kevin Young said in a statement.

Events curated as part of the Ella Baker Initiative will be open to the public and feature scholars, thought-leaders, authors and community residents, library officials said. The initiative is being funded through a partnership between the New York Public Library and Pivotal Ventures, an investment company founded by philanthropist

"As we approach the centennial of the 19th Amendment, it is critical that we highlight all of the voices who fought so hard to gain the right to vote," Gates said in a statement.

The contributions of women of color to the women's suffrage movement are often overlooked. A planned Central Park monument honoring the movement was redesigned to include Sojourner Truth after scholars accused the initial design of "whitewashing."

The Schomburg Center will list Ella Baker Initiative events on its website as they are announced.