Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 04/01/2020 Gr 5–7—Dionne clearly presents the difficult battle for women's suffrage that African American women endured before Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment on June 4, 1919. The trek to the ballot box for African American women was a difficult one, with many grim realities to overcome before and after the amendment's ratification. Beginning with the start of the abolitionist movement in the 1830s and continuing to the present day, Dionne demonstrates why women anti-slavery advocates (African American and white) felt the need to band together to fight the sexism of the national abolitionist establishment. For instance, at the organizational meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society, African American women were not invited to attend. The select white women in attendance were expected to observe the proceedings in silence. African American women fought their marginalization in the anti-slavery and later female suffrage movements and made their voices heard. The identification of African American women activists and the parts they played in American history is the strength of Dionne's book. So many of these women played pivotal roles in the passage of fundamental civil rights legislation, yet remain unidentified in mainstream accounts. VERDICT A must-purchase for all secondary school libraries. Readers who liked Fighting Chance: The Struggle Over Woman Suffrage and Black Suffrage In Reconstruction America by Faye E. Dudden and Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement edited by Bettye Collier-Thomas will particularly like Dionne's work.—Susan Catlett, Green Run High School, Virginia Beach - Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

School Library Journal - 04/01/2020 - Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 04/15/2020 *Starred Review* In 1904, the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) established the motto lifting as we climb. Though the NACWC's goals included suffrage for Black women, the vote was just one piece of the puzzle; they saw it as a tool they could use to improve the lives of all African Americans. It's from this movement that Dionne, a culture writer, editor, and former teacher, takes the title of her book, which traces Black women's fight for voting rights in America. Dionne demonstrates how the the suffrage movement was rooted in the abolitionist movement, profiling Black women who were crucial to the fight for the vote (both familiar and lesser-known figures are represented) and showing how the shock waves from these movements have reverberated through the Jim Crow South and present-day. Throughout, Dionne highlights how the stories of Black women have routinely been systemically buried. The white women who led the suffrage movement did not treat them as equals and were willing to deny or overlook the rights of Black women if it meant a quicker road to their own goals. And though many movements and stories were closely intertwined, few of these narratives are taught in history classrooms today. Dionne pulls back the veil on these stories, offering up an essential work for middle graders that helps to fill a gaping void. - Copyright 2020 Booklist.

Booklist - 04/15/2020 - Copyright 2020 Booklist.