Program

National Votes for Women Trail

Subject

People

Location

827 N Tatnall St, Wilmington, DE 19801, USA

Lat/Long

39.7450582, -75.5511933

Grant Recipient

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites

An advocate for woman’s suffrage and civil rights for Black Americans, Blanche Williams Stubbs (1872-1952), lived here at 827 Tatnall Street in Wilmington, Delaware from 1910 until her death in 1952. President of the Federation of Colored Woman’s Clubs of Delaware, Stubbs was also a leader and founding member of the Equal Suffrage Study Club when then organization was formed in 1914.  A March 21, 1914 article in The Morning News details the formation of the Equal Suffrage Study Club:

As an evidence that the colored women of the city are interested in the question of the extension of the right of suffrage, and are anxious to know more of the question in all its phases, a number met on Thursday evening at the residence of Mrs. George J. Sykes with the object of forming a club of study. Quite a number responded to the call which was a general one. The women were addressed by Mrs. Sykes, who stated the purpose of the meeting: to effect an organization with the idea of arousing interest. In the suffrage movement among colored women, and to conduct a campaign of education among them.

With this goal in mind, the organization mobilized and worked tirelessly to educate anyone interested in learning more about woman suffrage. Blanche Stubbs lived to witness the passage and subsequent ratification of the 19th Amendment which granted all women the right to vote. It was through the efforts of women like Blanche Stubbs, which helped make women’s suffrage a reality.