Mary (Maud) Molson Hughes

(1846–1881) Mary lectured around Western New York in the spring of 1869 with Charles Lenox Remond, a well-known Massachusetts abolitionist, in support of the Fifteenth Amendment. During that summer she spoke at many events, including the Colored Men's Convention in Binghamton, NY. In her lectures, Mary addressed controversial issues such as her ideas about black equality, her allegiance to the Republican Party and her aggravation at the Democratic Party's persistent "cry of the white man's government." Mary and those in attendance at the convention attributed some of the backlash against the black suffrage movement to the "white supremacist politicians," who dominated the New York membership of the Democratic party.

Although Mary's lectures primarily focused on garnering support for black male suffrage, she did find opportunities, including the 1869 meeting of the Equal Rights League, to make an appeal for what she referred to as "impartial suffrage," by which she meant the rights of African Americans and women to vote. Mary's contributions to the woman suffrage movement of the 19th century won her a notation in the History of Woman Suffrage. (Courtesy of AlexanderStreet.com)