Review: Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, by Martha S. Jones

Abstract

In Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, Martha S. Jones calls on the stories of Black women from the mid-1800s through the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to demonstrate how Black women overcame racism and sexism to advocate for the humanity and equality of everyone. Each chapter proceeds chronologically with vivid narrations that challenge common understandings of the most influential moments in US history. The stories illustrate how Black women not only led but transformed movements that often overlooked and attempted to stifle their contributions. Jones is a historian, but her work transcends disciplinary boundaries. Vanguard contributes to many fields, including Black politics, African American studies, and political science. The book exemplifies the materialization of intersectionality theories in the lives of Black women throughout US history. It also illustrates the role intersectionality plays in marginalizing Black women while simultaneously goading them to take on leadership roles.Common to each chapter and each historical period in Vanguard are the roles of racism and sexism and how both intersectionally affected Black women. Jones identifies how white people and Black men relegated Black women to be helpmates in their churches, political organizations, families, and communities despite their natural leadership, oratory, and community-building skills. For example, Jones remarks how a woman named Jarena Lee was called to preach. Yet, the males who dominated the Methodist church questioned her calling (25). Even within the Black-led African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the church community doubted women’s leadership capacity. But, like many Black women, Lee’s gift was undeniable for even the most stalwart misogynists.One of the common themes in Vanguard relates to the practices and beliefs that have stifled Black women within the church as well as in politics, social justice organizations, and other institutions. Even while Black women were able to make progress in some domains, they faced resistance and hostility in others. In fact, during the antislavery movement, Jones reports that Black women’s leadership capacity was respected at the local level, but they were forced to take a back seat to white women in the national movement.Black men and white women regularly neglected Black women in equal rights struggles. Leaders of various movements and institutions believed that particular attention to Black women’s issues was a distraction. To be sure, Black men and sometimes other women criticized Black women for not knowing and respecting their place in society. Moreover, Black women were particularly vulnerable to violence, sexual assault, and hostility. The mere presence of Black women was enough to evoke increased hatred, violence, and hate crimes. And still, Black women persisted.Another common theme regards Black women’s resourcefulness. Neglected by Black (male-dominated) and white women’s institutions, Black women created their own organizations and institutions. They started Philadelphia’s Female Literacy Association, which aimed to reject male leadership and guarantee women’s independence (36). Black women also founded the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (149) and the National Council of Negro Women to build Black women’s political power (207). These institutions provided a space for Black women to thrive without being inhibited by men and white women.Yet another theme explores how many Black women were thrust into the public sphere, although some did not desire to be at the center of public attention. Some, like Diane Nash, were motivated to lead by anger or frustration because of the way society dismissed and excluded them. Others, like Lee, were unable to hide or suppress their natural talents. Nevertheless, not every Black woman avoided the limelight. Pauli Murray wanted recognition for her struggle against “Jane Crow” (241). And Fannie Lou Hammer used her platform to relay the atrocities she faced at doctors’ and local officials’ hands and to promote Black people’s voting rights (256). Vanguard demonstrates that whether Black women desired public roles or not, many found themselves in prominent positions that would forever alter the American ethos.Overall, Jones’s narratives of Black women throughout US history are as illuminating as they are engaging. She artfully documents the evolution of Black women’s advocacy and activism. And she dedicates as much time and space to lesser-known Black women, like the aspiring preacher Jarena Lee and Howard University law student and later priest Pauli Murray, as she does to legendary Black women, like Sojourner Truth and Rosa Parks. The equal attention elevates the influence of the many Black women who have defied norms and risked their lives to push society to accept Black women’s humanity, equality, and contributions. And it subtly contends that many Black women, both known and unknown, are, in fact, vanguards.As with any scholarly work, Vanguard has some areas that could be improved. First, it is sometimes difficult to discern the sources of information provided within the text. For example, Jones often couples first- and second-hand accounts of trailblazing Black women with her musings about her subjects’ intentions, emotions, and activities. And, perhaps by convention, Jones relegates her references to endnotes indicated only at the end of a paragraph. As a result, the sources of specific events, phrases, and other information are often unclear. Nevertheless, it does allow the storylines to flow more easily throughout the book.The narratives in Vanguard could be even more powerful if they were connected more explicitly and consistently to Jones’s argument that Black women have been intersectionally marginalized vanguards in the struggle for equality. The overall argument is sometimes subsumed by her impressively comprehensive accounts of particular Black women, events, or circumstances. The lack of explicit associations between specific narratives and the overall argument is also apparent in Jones’s vanguard definition.In the early pages of the book, Jones provides two definitions for Black women as vanguards. First, Jones defines vanguards as trailblazers who lead Americans despite the burdens before them. Jones argues that Black women’s subjugation prepares them to “remedy their own circumstances, and by doing so, cure the world” (11). The second definition is that Black women were the first to model empathy and coalition-building that acknowledge marginalized communities. She contends that Black women’s leadership in rejecting racism and sexism exemplifies how to move the nation forward toward “realizing the equality and the dignity of all persons” (11). Nevertheless, Vanguard falls short of showing how Black women fully encompass these definitions.Vanguard could do more to demonstrate how Black women cure the world by fixing their own circumstances and whether Black women actually remedy racism and sexism, more generally, when they address their uniquely intersectional issues. Vanguard would also benefit from more evidence that others, including civil rights and women’s rights movements, adopted Black women’s intersectional approach. Vanguard acknowledges that there has been progress for Black women over time, particularly in the number and nature of Black women’s leadership. But, it is less clear whether this progress has begun to “cure the world” or change the orientation of other organizations and movements.Toward the end of the book, Jones contends that as vanguards, “Black women continue to innovate, challenge, and lead American politics to its best ideals in our own movement” (268). Jones does a better job supporting this definition by including accounts of the many “firsts” achieved by Black women. She also strengthens this definition with the narratives of the Black women teachers, servants, and preachers who compelled their white and male counterparts to accept them as their moral compasses. Vanguard shows that Black women did not always succeed in transforming their peers, but their tireless efforts paved the way for future generations of Black women to press on.Overall, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complete history of the civil rights and women’s rights movements. In traditional accounts of social movements, Black women are often overlooked. When they are acknowledged, they play a minor role, or they are deemed exceptional anomalies. But, in Vanguard, Jones demonstrates that countless Black women have consistently defied the odds to make a difference for themselves, their communities, and society more broadly. Because of their intersectionality, Black women face harsh realities but nevertheless advance their interests and lead others toward a more humane and equitable society.