In 2020, the nation commemorated the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment granting U.S women the right to vote. That same year, the Greater Kansas City Black Suffragist Committee (GKCBS) formed with the mission to "enshrine the lives of those who dedicated themselves to a just cause, to illuminate the dynamic history of local suffrage and the fight for women’s rights, and to inspire our community to continue to protect the right of all people to vote."

Carmaletta Williams, CEO of the Black Archives of Mid-America, discusses the research of GKCBS, the long history of Black women’s activism, and the intersection with the struggles for abolition, suffrage, economic freedom, and civil rights. She further details the contributions of Black Kansas Citians such as Ida Bowman Becks, Minnie Crosthwaite, Josephine Yates, and others who took up the struggle locally for suffrage and civil rights.

The program is co-presented by the Kansas City Athenaeum in honor of Women’s History Month.