To not want to hear anything about the suffragettes

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How am I meant to support a movement that was disgustingly racist just because I benefit from it being a white female.

The feminist movement is still subtly racist with a lot of white feminists refusing to see white privilege.

The argument of being of its time doesn't wash. Racism is racism and I refuse to support it.

I think the response would be the same, becuase the OP is nonsensical and wrong.

I think the fact they there are no records to even show how many black people were living in the uk at the time, that there were no black women to be seen in the movement but that we are aware that we had a black community certainly in London does support her argument

There were black women in the movement.

Simplistic argument, OP and historically inaccurate.

Tbe current fashion for criticising the suffragettes is sexist 'presentism' - judging tbe past by today's standards.

By your reasoning, we shouldn't celebrate the Chartists, or indeed any past movement for radical change, because they somehow don't meet perfect intersectional standards.

Funny how we tend to hold the historical women's movement to these standards, but rarely make the same judgements of masculinist/male-led socialist or workers' rights movements.

hat there were no black women to be seen in the movement

There were black people in the movement.

no records to even show how many black people were living in the uk at the time

This is becuase Legally Black people were equal with white people, there was no reason to document colour, this stopped when slavery was abolished. You have This documented in the US becuase Black people were second class.

ok

I have never seen pictures, read or heard of this in the uk

Thank god there are so many more articulate posters here than I.

At about 7 this morning i tried really hard to say exactly what Theydontknowweknowtheyknow said, but couldn't get it out

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/files/2014/06/Suffragettes.jpg

Center of the photo, third from the right.

but then how do we know numbers of the irish or jewish population unless there were documented by religion

ok stand corrected photo evidence

"The 1901 census recorded 33,000 Londoners as having been born in British colonies or dependencies." The majority of these were black men. Nationality was not asked in the census at this time, simply the place of birth.

There were strong links between the British suffragette movement, and women fighting for their rights in India. There was a specific Indian women's branch of the suffragette movement in London. The numbers of black women involved were small overall in Britain, but the black population in Britain was small.

Haven't read the whole thread but, OP, I'm with you on this to some extent. Whilst I agree that the suffragettes were marvelous women who absolutely paved the way for modern democracy and women's emancipation, their agenda was certainly not as inclusive as is often portrayed. As a working class, unmarried woman, the movement was most definitely not interested in my emancipation.

I think it's vital to talk about the suffragettes and to celebrate their achievements but I think it has to be placed within a wider elitist context and the hugely racist and elitist motivations need to be made transparent.

Well ok OP. No one else really agrees though.

Wetwashing - Being an unmarried mother at that time, was very frowned on. But there were lots of working class women in the suffragette movement, so you are very wrong about that point. The film actually focusses on a working class woman who was very prominent in the movement.

There were strong links between the British suffragette movement, and women fighting for their rights in India. There was a specific Indian women's branch of the suffragette movement in London. The numbers of black women involved were small overall in Britain, but the black population in Britain was small.

In the intrest of fairness here's a Photo of the Indian suffragette movement in London, one with indian / white suffergette women working together and the photo i linked to earlier.

you don't know much about history do you?

The suffragette movement arose OUT of the anti slavery movement and the movement for universal suffrage. Women involved in the anti slavery movement began to realise how badly they were being treated and the women's suffrage movement was a spin off from their work against slavery.

Even though they were united with men in opposing slavery they were not given equal status in that fight
"In 1840, the World Anti-Slavery Convention was held in London. Abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott attended the Convention but were refused seats on the floor by male abolitionists because they were women. As a result, Stanton and Mott decided to hold a convention on women’s rights"

www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/abolitionandsuffrage.html

There is a context to the quote on the T shirt (though I think it was an unfortunate choice given how many people seem ignorant of history)

How is your hangover OP? Just asking because because I can't believe that someone could write such a load of ill informed tripe while they were sober.
None of the large scale campaigns for human rights have been whiter than white- other pps have mentioned the sexism and homophobia within the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King was homophobic, does that mean his achievements were worthless? I can't imagine the guts it takes to begin to publicly challenge an idea that is so entrenched in society that people don't even question it - to be held up for abuse and ridicule, to risk imprisonment or even death. In the case of the Suffragettes, a lot of the abuse came from other women.
Humans have an instinctive tendency to revert to black and white thinking and to put other humans into the category of 'good ' or 'bad'. However, life isn't that simple. Many amazing people throughout history have had deep character flaws. That doesn't wipe out the amazing things they achieved. OP, seeing as you're so opposed to the Suffragettes, I presume you've never used the vote they took the effort to win for you?

Malcolm X was a leading activist for the rights of African Americans, but his famous reply - when someone asked him what the position of women in society should be - was "Horizontal"

Pretty sure Sylvia Pankhurst wasnt racist, given that she worked for decades on anti-colonialism in Africa, for Ethiopian independence. She founded the first proper hospital there, lived there, died there, was given a state funeral, and statues built of her there.
What a big fat racist.

An example of how UK suffragettes paid for the rights that some don't seem to appreciate:

10 November 1910, “Black Friday”
A group of around 300 suffragettes faced a wall of policemen outside Parliament and an angry male crowd.
Heavily outnumbered, the women were physically attacked by police and by male vigilantes.
Two suffragettes were killed
Many women suffered serious injuries
Many were groped by police and male bystanders
More than 100 were arrested.