Smith sisters want to vote because they own property. Ida B. Wells-Barnett calls attention to injustices to blacks in her newspaper articles. She cannot return to the South because of her writing. World War I, 1914-1918. Militant suffragettes picket the White House and are incarcerated.
Early optimism proves false.
Black women are disenfranchised by poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation. Poll taxes are not prohibited until the 24th Amendment in 1964. Civil Rights Act, 1964.