Existing comment:
Disfranchised Washingtonians fighting for women's voting rights
In 1877, African American residents in Washington, DC -- including Frederick Douglass's children Rosetta Douglass (Mrs. Nathan Sprague) and Frederick Douglass Jr. -- sent this petition asking Congress "to prohibit states from disfranchising United States citizens on account of sex." Notably, the petitioners lobbied against disfranchising women in the states without mentioning the District of Columbia, where all residents regardless of race or gender lacked many voting rights. |