Montclair Filmmaker: Let’s Talk Honestly About Race, Feminism

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A Montclair resident and filmmaker is embarking on a quest to shed some light on the contribution of 19th-century African-American women within the suffrage movement.

With her in-production documentary “The Black Suffragist: Trailblazers of Social Justice,” Jennifer Rolle is attempting to touch on the issues that 19th century black women suffrage activists faced, which she said is “typically a footnote in first-wave feminism.”

Rolle said that she is currently producing the documentary in association with the media group Women’s Voices Now. Watch a trailer for the film below and click here for more information.

According to Rolle:

“Women's rights were established at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. The abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony spearheaded the movement that eventually afforded women the right to vote. Black activists like Mary Church Terrell and Nannie Helen Burroughs are not as well-known as the foremothers. However, they played a crucial role in mobilizing black women within the suffrage movement. And consequently, their added voices lead to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.”

Rolle said that there is a “lack of an honest dialogue on the subject of race” when it comes to the early days of feminism.

"There's no joy in associating some of our heroes with racism and anti-Semitism," she said. "But history cannot be retold truthfully and accurately with glossed-over omissions."

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Photo courtesy of Jennifer Rolle