The Straight Line From 1920 → 1965 → 2020s North Carolina
Preserving Our Legacy: When Voting Rights Didn’t Protect All Women — And Why North Carolina’s Gerrymandering Still Matters Today
By Karen D. Spigner
August 26, 2020, marked the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, a milestone often celebrated as “when women won the right to vote.” But as historians Martha S. Jones and Daina Ramey Berry remind us, that narrative was never true for all women. For Black women, the right to vote was not granted in 1920 — it was promised, then systematically denied.when voting rights didnt protec…
And today, a century later, North Carolina’s newly gerrymandered districts show us that the struggle is not ancient history. It is ongoing, active, and sitting right in our back yard.
A Century Ago: The 19th Amendment Opened the Door — and States Slammed It Shut
When the 19th Amendment prohibited discrimination “on account of sex,” Black women saw only a symbolic victory.Why? Because states — especially in the South — continued to enforce racially targeted barriers: literacy tests, poll taxes, violence, and intimidation.
As the transcript highlights:
“Nothing in the 19th Amendment is going to prohibit individual states from continuing to disenfranchise Black voters.”when voting rights didnt protec…
Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Nannie Helen Burroughs — all of them fought for rights that were still denied at the county courthouse. Their struggle did not end in 1920. It carried forward until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and even then, the victory came only after brutal campaigns, marches, and bloodshed.when voting rights didnt protec…
Today: New Tools, Same Purpose
The video’s historians make it plain: modern voter suppression comes wrapped in “neutral” language.
“Voter ID laws, voter purges, shuttering polling places… none of which announce they are aimed at voters of color, but disproportionately keep them away from the polls.”when voting rights didnt protec…
Sound familiar?
It should — because these are the same patterns North Carolina continues to experience.
North Carolina’s Gerrymandering: The Modern Literacy Test
Since the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision struck down federal oversight, North Carolina has been at the epicenter of voting-rights regression. The state has repeatedly:
fractured Black rural communities
diluted Black urban voting power
packed minority voters into as few districts as possible
closed precincts in heavily Black counties
and engineered maps that guarantee one-party control despite population diversity
Federal courts have already described North Carolina’s past maps as targeting African Americans with “almost surgical precision.”
That phrase echoes the transcript’s warnings:
“Like in 1920 and 2020, seemingly neutral laws are being used to disproportionately keep people of color away from the polls.
Gerrymandering is simply the new literacy test — not preventing you from voting, but preventing your vote from ever mattering.
Why This Is Personal for Black Women
The transcript reminds us that Black women historically viewed the vote as a lever to fight the inequalities affecting their families:
housing
education
health
safety
economic mobility
When districts are carved to silence those voices, the issues remain unchallenged. The levers weaken. And communities stay without representation that reflects their lived reality.
This is not a theoretical conversation. It impacts:
which schools get funded
which hospitals stay open
whether rural counties get clean water
whether domestic-violence shelters remain operating
whether communities are heard or ignored
In short: representation shapes survival.
A Legacy of Resilience — And a Call Forward
The video closes by pointing to the modern political rise of Black women, emphasizing that they come from a long, intentional lineage of activism:
“These are not women who dropped out of the sky. They come out of a political tradition and are building upon that.
Here in North Carolina, we see that same tradition alive:
Black women running for office
leading redistricting lawsuits
organizing rural voter registration
advocating in congregations, clubs, and civic councils
and refusing to accept a democracy that excludes them
Gerrymandering may be sophisticated. But so are today’s Black women, community leaders, voters, and advocates.
Conclusion: The Fight Didn’t End in 1920 — And It Won’t End in 2025
The story of the 19th Amendment is the story of a promise delayed, then fought for generation after generation. North Carolina’s current political landscape is simply the latest chapter in that long struggle.
We honor the legacy of Black suffragists not by retelling their story —but by continuing their work.
Because voting rights were not fully protected then. And without vigilance, they are not fully protected now.
Preserving our legacy means protecting our districts, our representation, and our right to be heard. The women who came before us demanded nothing less. Neither should we.