History's been interesting to human beings.

"As she sought to galvanize young voters, one Alabama woman, 89-year-old Loretta Green, wore a shirt adorned with her poll tax exempt certificate from 1960, granted to her because she joined the military. In the years before the Voting Rights Act was passed, most Black people living in the South did not receive an exemption, and they had to choose between paying a tax to vote or using the money to feed their families. 'This is Why I Vote,' Green’s shirt read.

Meanwhile, in Tulsa, OK, the oldest living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, 110-year-old Viola Fletcher and 109-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle, cast their votes for Harris. In recent years, Fletcher and Randle have led efforts for reparations for the survivors of the massacre. Though at the time they were just seven and six years old, respectively, both women still have vivid nightmares of the massacre and destruction of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street—the aftermath of which still reverberates today.

Now, the once-vibrant district is now plagued by high poverty rates and lower life expectancy. For the women who have experienced firsthand the extent of racism and hatred that has historically been inflicted upon Black people, it was meaningful to be able to vote for a Black woman.

'If this is my last ballot, then I’m grateful that it’s for Kamala Harris,' Randle said as she cast her ballot during early voting.

Election Day also marked exactly 56 years after Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the US House of Representatives. Four years later, Chisholm became the first woman and first Black candidate to seek a major party nomination for president of the United States. Though Harris, like Chisholm, ultimately would not be elected to the presidency, November 5, 2024, proved to be a historic night in other ways—two Black women were elected to serve in the Senate for the first time in US history."

~ Rebekah Barber

"How Black Women Are Contextualizing the 2024 Election Results"

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/how-black-women-are-contextualizing-the-2024-election-results/