AP US History in 1 Minute Daily: Reconstruction & Women's Rights (Day 149/309)

Hey APUSHers, let’s chat about Reconstruction and Women’s Rights as part of my series- APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!

Signatures to the “Declaration of Sentiments,” Wikimedia Commons

An organized women’s rights movement coalesced in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention. As many women engaged in reform movements, they found limits to their ability to do so as a result of their gender.

Wikimedia Commons: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass

Many women were active in the abolition movement. With an overlap in goals, leaders, including Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, often worked alongside each other albeit tense at times.

The Prayer of One Hundred Thousand, Library of Congress

Women played a large role in the passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments. Through lectures, pamphlets, and the gathering of 100 thousand signatures, women influenced the political process despite being denied the right to vote.

An Unexpected Effect, The Ohio State University

So, when the 15th Amendment only granted suffrage to Black men, women’s rights advocates were outraged. Feeling betrayed by their African American male allies, many white women engaged in racist rhetoric largely severing their partnership.

In the Civil War and Reconstruction period, women saw opportunities for advancing their civil rights alongside African Americans. Dismayed from their exclusion from the 15th Amendment, women reorganized their efforts to obtain suffrage.

Join me tomorrow as I explain the Freedmen’s Bureau in the next APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!