Women from all socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicities particiapted in the fight to gain “Votes for Women,” but not all women felt suffrage should be extended to all of their sex. Many working for suffrage felt that this right should be qualified to keep minority women from expressing their rights at the ballot box. There were no shortage of men who supported suffrage for women, but just as there were women who would deny this right be extended to all, there were men that did not want to see all women vote. Though only enfranchised for around 50 years when the Susan B. Anthony amendment passed, there were African American men who opposed women’s suffrage. Additionally, some white men took issue with African American women being extended the right to vote. Some arguments for denying people of color the vote stemmed from the belief that they were genetically inferior, making them incapable of making these types of decisions. Many felt that they could not be trusted with such a sacred right. This way of thinking was fueled in part by the eugenics movement. The movement began in the late 19th century in England and became popular in the United States. Its most infamous manifestation occurred during the Second World War, under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime. After the Second World War it fell out of favor.
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