Huntsville's First Black Women Voters

Huntsville's First Black Women Voters. . Ratified in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed women the right to vote. To register to vote in Alabama citizens were required to meet a series of residency and property requirements, pass a literacy test, and pay a poll tax. Codified in the state's 1901 constitution, these restrictive and onerous measures were designed to deprive the majority of African Americans access to their constitutional right to vote., In 1920, six African American women in Madison County met the state's requirements and were registered to vote. The women were organizers, educators, entrepreneurs, and members of Huntsville's African American community. All worshiped at Lakeside Methodist Episcopal Church., Mary Wood Binford (Jordan), 1874-1955, an 1897 graduate of Howard University and a teacher at William Hooper Councill School. , Ellen Scruggs Brandon, b. 1868, a volunteer leader for the American Red Cross and the United Sisters of Charity. , India Leslie Herndon, 1891-1989, owner of Citizens Drug Store and a teacher at Councill School. , Lou Bertha Johnson, 1896-1985, owner of Grand Cleaners and a former member of St. John AME Church. , Dora Fackler Lowery, 1886-1966, teacher at Councill School and mother of civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery. , Celia Horton Love (McCrary), 1867-1948, owner of a Mullins Flat farm, now a part of Redstone Arsenal. Her family donated land for the Silver Hill Rosenwald School.