ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — The year is 1920, and the 19th Amendment is officially ratified into the United States Constitution – giving women the right to vote nationwide.
But in North Carolina, that right was still not a reality for many women.
Annie E Jones, an educator in Elizabeth City, worked tirelessly to change that.
Years before, the North Carolina state legislature implemented a literacy test with the goal of disenfranchising Black voters.
In response, Jones organized non-partisan voter education classes for Black women.
“We colored women are going to know the subject of the government from the township unit up to the national congress,” she told a local newspaper at the time.
Jones continued her work, which focused on advocating for Black women’s right to vote, for the rest of her life.
And in 2022, a marker honoring her legacy was erected near her church in Elizabeth City.