Sisters of Humanity

"On this final day of Women's History Month, specifically European American women may consider stripping away the phony moniker of being "white", and, instead, stand with all other women as Sisters of Humanity."






Dear friends,

Initially, the term white was only used to distinguish the colors of captive workers (that is, European servants from their African or Early American Native counterparts.) Therefore, during the colonial period about which Bennett earlier, to be called "white" was belittling. Only in the past 200 years or roughly four grandmothers ago with the founding of the new nation, particularly because of the U.S.A.'s primary ideologue, slaveholder Thomas Jefferson, did the notion of a superior "white" race acquire legitimacy.

Specifically, in remarks made during the debates of the now famous Constitutional Convention period, regarding whether or not AfricanAmerican captive workers should be emancipated from the political economy of slavery, Jefferson, a future president, declared: "To our reproach it must be said, that though for a century and a half we have had under our eyes the races of black and red men, they have never yet been viewed by us as subjects of natural history. I advance it, therefore, as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind." - Jefferson's Works, vol. viii (see Negroes as Slaves, Citizens, and Soldiers by George Livermore)

Apparently, Jefferson was a hypocrite, if not an outright fraud, since the most famous phrase attributed to him, "All men are created equal," did not reflect either his true sentiments as evidenced by both the above passage and his large ownership of Black captive workers.

In any case, on this final day of Women's History Month, specifically European American women may consider stripping away the phony moniker of being "white", and, instead, stand with all other women as Sisters of Humanity. 

G. Djata Bumpus
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A Women's History Month note

Dear friends,

During Women's History Month, all should take notice that, as the great Audre Lorde insisted, "The Black woman in America was never meant to survive anyway." Still, in spite of her detractors, generally-speaking, the African American woman has maintained a unique strength and wisdom that is accompanied by an infectious kindness, politeness and sincerity, which has influenced the total North American social environment, for centuries. She has long been and continues to be a comforter and nurturer of children, from all cultural groups. The guardian of Our past and future. To be sure, for many men, the African American woman is the "mother" of Our eyes - and dreams.

G. Djata Bumpus
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Women's History - When Black suffrage and Women's suffrage Collided in the 19th Century

Dear friends,

Historically, woman suffragettes were usually abolitionists first. One such person who began as an abolitionist and later became a renowned speaker for women's rights was Susan B. Anthony. Yet, Anthony seemed to have questionable qualities regarding her feelings about human liberation. You see, suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were, in fact, vigorously opposed to Lincoln's version of the Emancipation Proclamation and the succeeding Constitutional amendments, because they would give only African American men - and no women - the right to vote. Even worse, much of her public life, at least at one point, was financed by a man, George Francis Train, a white supremacist ideologue and spokesman.

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had responded to what they considered to be a Republican "betrayal" by agreeing to share the lecture platform with a flamboyant Democrat, George Francis Train. An effective if eccentric speaker, Train scandalized abolitionists and suffragists alike by his frequent recourse to racial slurs and by his advocacy of woman suffrage as an alternative to Black suffrage. Despite mounting pressure from their fellow reformers, Anthony and Stanton refused to dissociate themselves from Train, the only man willing to provide them with consistent strategic and financial support. He not only took it upon himself to pay the two women's expenses when funds ran low, but also offered to bankroll Anthony's dream of a pro-suffrage journal in exchange for their continued presence on his return lecture tour to the East. In what seems like an obvious victory of expediency over principle, both women accepted the offer, insisting on their 'right to accept proffered aid without looking behind it for the motive.' It was not the last time they would have to engage in such a defense - (The Isabella Beecher Hooker Project, edited by Anne Throne Margolis)

G. Djata Bumpus
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A Brief Note About Women's Suffrage in the 19 Century

Dear friends,

Historically, woman suffragettes were usually abolitionists first. One such person who began as an abolitionist and later became a renowned speaker for women's rights was Susan B. Anthony. Yet, Anthony seemed to have questionable qualities regarding her feelings about human liberation. You see, suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were, in fact, vigorously opposed to Lincoln's version of the Emancipation Proclamation, because it would eventually lead to African American men - and no women of any group - having the right to vote. Even worse, much of her public life, at least at one point, was financed by a man, George Francis Train, a white supremacist ideologue and spokesman.

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had responded to what they considered to be a Republican "betrayal" by agreeing to share the lecture platform with a flamboyant Democrat, George Francis Train. An effective, if eccentric, speaker, Train scandalized abolitionists and suffragists alike by his frequent recourse to racial slurs and by his advocacy of woman suffrage as an alternative to Black suffrage. Despite mounting pressure from their fellow reformers, Anthony and Stanton refused to dissociate themselves with Train, the only man willing to provide them with consistent strategic and financial support. He not only took it upon himself to pay the two women's expenses when funds ran low, but also offered to bankroll Anthony's dream of a pro-suffrage journal in exchange for their continued presence on his return lecture tour to the East. In what seems like an obvious victory of expediency over principle, both women accepted the offer, insisting on their 'right to accept proffered aid without looking behind it for the motive.' It was not the last time they would have to engage in such a defense - (please refer to The Isabella Beecher Hooker Project, edited by Anne Throne Margolis)

G. Djata bumpus

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