This month is the 100th anniversary
of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote
and the ability to pose on the 'Gram with "I Voted" stickers.
They're like thirst traps for democracy.
But while the 19th Amendment was a major victory for white women,
the story is not so simple for Black women.
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The road to the 19th Amendment started in 1848
with the Seneca Falls Convention--
the first women's rights meet-up in American history.
Before that, the only time
women could legally gather was to catch a bouquet.
I don't need your used flowers, Beverly.
Assuming you didn't sleep through tenth grade history,
you probably know some of the people who were at Seneca Falls.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott
and even our homeboy Frederick Douglass
got his hair pressed especially for the occasion.
But you know who wasn't allowed to come? Black women.
The whole roster was just a bunch of white people
and one Black guy.
It looked like the cast of a Mission: Impossible movie.
Even though they weren't invited to the party,
black female activists were also fighting for suffrage
throughout the 19th century.
Everyone's always talking about Susan B. Anthony.
But today, Susan should be stepping aside
to let some Black ladies shine for once.
For example, let's talk about Mary Church Terrell.
She was incredibly influential
in advancing the cause for women's suffrage,
and in 1898, she delivered a speech to white activists
that was one of the first expressions
of what we now call "intersectional feminism."
"Seeking no favors because of our color,
"we knocked at the bar of justice
asking for an equal chance."
She's a better woman than me.
I would have taken a bar of justice
and knocked somebody up side the head.
And Terrell isn't alone.
Activists like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman
and Ida B. Wells all pushed for the vote,
alongside forgotten activists
like Mary Ann Shadd Cary and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
They were fighting sexism and racism at the same time.
You know how hard that is?
You can't take your eye off either one for a second.
If you're face to face with sexism,
racism will sneak up on you like one of those raptors
in Jurassic Park.
-Clever racists. -(growling)
Anyway, by 1918, thanks to all the tireless activism
from black and white suffragists alike,
President Woodrow Wilson endorsed the call
for a constitutional amendment to legalize women's voting.
Both houses of Congress passed the Susan B. Anthony Amendment
in the summer of 1919.
And on August 18, 1920,
Tennessee became the thirty-sixth and final state
to ratify the 19th Amendment to the Constitution,
which means-- hurray!-- all women could now legally vote
in federal elections, and we all lived happily ever after.
Lie! What do you think this is-- a children's movie?
Do I look like the Pixar lamp to you?
Buckle up, Cinderella, 'cause we ain't done yet.
While white women got to stroll
into the polls without a problem,
Black women, like Black men, still faced major obstacles
throughout the 20th century, especially in the South.
We're talking poll taxes,
literacy tests and even violence.
If America put as much brain power into science
as it did at denying Black people the vote,
we'd be living in moon mansions, getting served by robot butlers.
Why, yes, Robot Jeeves, I will have another drink.
Finally, in 1965, President LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act,
which outlawed racial discriminations in elections.
On paper.
But even today, Republicans continue inventing ways
to make it harder for people of color to vote,
like shutting down polling locations
in Black neighborhoods, and
making voter ID laws when they know
black people are less likely to have ID.
So even though 100 years
of the 19th Amendment is worth celebrating,
America still has work to do
when it comes to ensuring truly equal access to elections.
So this August, y'all can celebrate Susan B. Anthony,
but then y'all better be supporting candidates
who will finally finish the job for everyone.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to seduce the postman
to make sure he delivers my mail-in ballot on time,
and because he's fine.
I see you in those shorts, Gerald.
Mmm, mmm.
You can get it... same day... overnight.