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Annie Jones: One woman's fight for Black women to be able to vote in North Carolina

In 2022, a marker honoring her legacy was erected near her church in Elizabeth City.

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.

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