In the 19th century emerged two human rights groups, the abolitionists and the women's rights activists, both of them shared a similar ideology that every individual should be able to enjoy their freedom, have control over their body and be able to vote. The fact that both women and African Americans had a background of being discriminated and oppressed allowed them to form an unspoken bond and sympathize with each other. Because of this, there are many similarities in the methods that women and African Americans used to resist oppression, organize/carry out their movements, and ultimately win their rights.
The two groups were intertwined by their desire for liberation from the oppression of white men. Women and African Americans were fighting for their freedom and demanding equal rights. On their agendas, they were interested in obtaining the innate right to have control over their bodies, this included freedom from servitude for slaves and protection against domestic violence for women (Discussion 12/2). Besides the right to vote (being recognized and allowed to have a voice in the government and laws that they had to abide by) they also wanted the ability to partake in activities that were strictly reserved for white men only, such as the opportunity to obtain an education for a professional career and owning property (Lecture12/1).
Both women and African Americans had to live in a world in which they were expected to follow the rules, but had no say in how these rules were formed. Because they received very little or no support from the ruling aristocracy of white men they depended on cooperation amongst themselves as means of finding support and resisting oppression. For example, slaves depended on each other to secretly transmit information regarding escape and revolts from one plantation to the next (Discussion10/28). Women used organizations such as their church groups to share and strengthen their ideas of freedom and equality.
