ATLANTA ‒ One afternoon, Mary-Pat Hector walked along a promenade connecting historically Black colleges, stopping at a table dressed in a bright blue tablecloth with “Rise” written boldly on it.

The 26-year-old head of a nonpartisan group engaged with volunteers who had spent several hours encouraging Clark Atlanta University students to register to vote.

“Excuse me, queen. Are you registered to vote?” one volunteer asked a student passing by.

Before leaving, Hector managed to gather 263 commitments to vote from students along with seven completed registration forms. This was just one of many stops made by her organization to connect with thousands of students nationwide.

“This feels like something I had to take on,” Hector shared, explaining that her drive to defend voting rights intensified during the 2016 presidential election. “There was an urgent sense of time slipping away, similar to what I feel today.”

Hector represents a young generation of Black women dedicated to registering voters for the upcoming Nov. 5 elections. Yet, she stands on the shoulders of those who’ve blazed the trail before her.

Prominent figures like 61-year-old Melanie Campbell and 80-year-old Judy Richardson have been advocating for voting rights for many years.

Women like Campbell and Richardson have been critical in shaping the political landscape, from the Civil Rights Movement to contemporary efforts like Black Lives Matter.

Though their methods and the challenges they face may evolve, the mission remains unchanged across the generations.

“I aim to uplift our community, and I believe that achieving this is intricately tied to engaging in the political arena,” stated Campbell, who presides over the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.

She emphasized that “democracy is an ongoing struggle that we must continue to champion.”

Thoughts of freedom

On another afternoon, Richardson joined fellow seasoned activists in a classroom at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, discussing strategies they utilized back in the 1960s to register Black voters in the South.

Richardson and fellow veterans from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) have been visiting historically Black colleges and civil rights museums hosting workshops where they impart organizing strategies, among other topics.

“You have an obligation to enhance the world for future generations,” Richardson stated. “I’m committed to this at 80 because my peers, who are also 80, have never stopped either. Sure, we could all just sit back and do something leisurely, but the SNCC veterans I know remain active.”

At the young age of 19, Richardson left Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania to join SNCC, which consisted largely of students and local activists dedicated to achieving civil rights for Black Americans. She worked in the challenging regions of Alabama and Mississippi, as well as in Cambridge, Maryland, where community members held sit-ins to protest segregation.

Through her journey, she learned from various local leaders.

“I was inspired by the brilliant minds around me, fueled by their tireless pursuit of freedom,” she recalled. “Although some got weary, they were motivated by the vision of liberation.”

Despite the risks posed by discriminatory Jim Crow laws, Richardson and her fellow activists from SNCC were resolute in their quest for change.

“The attitude was never to resign oneself to despair, saying, ‘Oh, this situation is hopeless,’” she remarked. “The belief was, you must rise up and take action.”

“You’re falling behind; it’s time to take action.”

Throughout her career, Richardson, a documentary filmmaker, has been involved in projects aimed at instigating change, such as the acclaimed “Eyes on the Prize,” which highlights the Civil Rights Movement. Recently, she completed a documentary for the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, D.C.

Richardson frequently advises young Black women activists about the significance of voting, emphasizing the necessity of sustained organizing for the future. She often reflects on the wisdom imparted by her elders.

“I might not witness the change I am advocating for, but inaction ensures stagnation, leaving my children and their offspring to confront the same challenges I faced,” she stated. “At some point, we must declare that the cycle stops here. Or at the very least, I will take actions that make it easier for those who follow.”

‘Black women have long been involved in this struggle’

Black women have a longstanding history of organizing, campaigning, and mobilizing their communities to increase voter turnout. They have increasingly encouraged more Black women to run for office.

In recent years, record numbers of Black women have emerged as candidates for various positions, including state governors and members of Congress, as reported by the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Today, numerous local and national civic engagement organizations established by Black women, including those led by Campbell and Hector, have emerged, many within the last ten years.

“The influence of Black women and women of color as leaders is increasingly recognized,” said Wendy Smooth, an associate professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at The Ohio State University. “Black women have long been at the forefront of political organization and voter mobilization, and we now see a rising trend of them wanting to run for office.”

Black women have played essential roles in pivotal political victories, such as in 2017 when Doug Jones became the first Democrat in 25 years to secure a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. Their contributions were crucial in mobilizing voters during the 2020 presidential election, supporting the Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Generations of Black women, including Campbell, advocated for California Sen. Kamala Harris to become the first African American and South Asian woman vice president in 2020. They also successfully campaigned for Ketanji Brown Jackson’s 2022 confirmation as the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I believe we have turned a corner where people are becoming accustomed to seeing Black women in leadership roles,” Richardson remarked. “Black women in positions of authority who are exceptionally intelligent and dedicated are becoming the norm, and that is a positive development.”

‘Every generation must engage in the struggle’

This spring, Campbell joined numerous canvassers in a Maryland neighborhood, going door-to-door to encourage residents to vote. They spent hours distributing pamphlets on door handles and car windshields in a grocery store parking lot.

As the leader of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, which promotes voter registration, Campbell dedicated ensuing months to spearheading various get-out-the-vote initiatives across Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

Her activism journey began as a student at Clark Atlanta University in the 1980s. She also engaged in numerous political campaigns, including volunteering for the early congressional run of civil rights activist John Lewis. Subsequently, she collaborated with Lewis to advocate for voting rights.

After relocating to Washington, D.C., she took on the role of president and CEO of the coalition.

Campbell remains a vocal advocate for federal voting rights laws named after Lewis. In 2021, she was among a group of Black women activists arrested on Capitol Hill during a protest advocating for voting rights protections.

“We will always have to fight for our rights,” said Campbell. “Historically, we were denied the right to vote and were enslaved. This remains a reality we must confront in this country, as racism has never been fully addressed. Part of oppression has involved the suppression of voting rights. Thus, it’s a struggle that each generation must engage with.”

Throughout the years, Campbell has drawn inspiration from mentors such as Dorothy Height, a civil rights icon and former president of the National Council of Negro Women.

“I remember sitting there in tears saying, ‘I want to get involved and make a difference,’” Campbell recounted, reflecting on her conversations with Height, who passed away in 2010. “I really want to uplift and empower Black women’s leadership.”

Height urged Campbell to become more engaged with the Black Women’s Roundtable, a coalition made up of grassroots organizations led by Black women, where she is now a key leader.

Similarly, Richardson has always admired pioneers of the civil rights movement.

activists Fannie Lou Hamer, a community organizer from Mississippi, and Ella Baker, who held various positions within the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and SNCC, left a significant impact. Baker once expressed that it wasn’t her role to hand off responsibilities to younger activists.

“Her perspective was, ‘We’re both holding this baton,’” Richardson described. “You’re at one end, and I’m at the other. Eventually, I will step aside, and you will move to my side … but it’s not simply passing it to you. I will be here with you for as long as possible.”

A New Kind of Battle

During the 1960s, Richardson utilized letters, pay phones, and landlines along with a national network for emergency calls. In contrast, today, social media plays a crucial role.

“The positive side is that they have access to social media. The downside is that they have access to social media,” noted Richardson. “The issue arises when you become overly reliant on it.”

Unlike today’s activists, Richardson mentioned that older generations depended more on their own platforms, like press releases, phone networks, printing presses, and their own photographers. They didn’t only rely on mainstream media; the Black press played a crucial role in covering the movement.

Campbell acknowledged that technology has changed the landscape of activism, often not for the better. She expressed concern about the spread of misinformation through social media. “Yet, it’s a necessary part of reaching people where they are,” she said. “Keeping up with that has its own challenges.”

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Hector noted that emphasis shifted to online mobilization, especially for younger individuals. However, she stressed the importance of combining both traditional and modern organizing techniques.

“We can’t ignore grassroots organizing in favor of just focusing on social media, even though younger people are on platforms like TikTok and Instagram,” she explained. “We also need to invest in door-to-door efforts, phone outreach, and in-person events.”

Richardson emphasized the need for younger activists to build better relationships with their communities.

“In the South, if individuals are risking their lives for your cause, they must see you,” she stated. “They need to understand who you are, and that connection cannot happen on Facebook or Twitter. You have to create personal connections.”

Preparing Future Leaders

After her visit to Clark Atlanta University, Hector traveled nearly two hours to another Georgian university to equip students with the skills needed to engage their peers in voting and advocate for the issues they care about.

For Hector, this work is deeply personal. As a young Black woman, now seven months pregnant, she feels she has fewer rights over her body than her mother did.

“That’s incredibly disheartening,” she remarked. “Thus, this upcoming election represents more than just a vote; it feels like a matter of life and death. I’m a woman about to give birth in a state, Georgia, where maternal mortality rates are alarmingly high among women. The stakes are real. My life, and the life of my daughter, hinge on the results of this election.”

Last year, Hector was named CEO of RISE, a five-year-old youth-centered organization promoting debt-free college options and empowering youth politically. Since taking the lead, the organization expanded from its initial states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to include Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina.

Having grown up in the civil rights movement, she started at just 13 years old as the national youth director for Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. She recalled opposing a proposal in a Georgia community that aimed to construct a new jail instead of a recreation facility.

While attending Spelman College, another historically Black institution in Atlanta, she led organizing efforts with Black Youth Vote and later coordinated Georgia’s Black Youth Vote initiative.

During her sophomore year, she was part of the Student Government Association and collaborated with Black Youth Vote and the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda to organize discussions and watch parties for the 2016 election, successfully registering 500 students.

The deaths of George Floyd and other unarmed Black individuals ignited a wave of youth activism that Hector is determined to sustain.

“How do we inspire them to channel that energy and passion into casting their votes in the upcoming election?” she questioned.

To address this, Hector developed “Black the Vote,” a program in Georgia aimed at training Black students to become reliable communicators, engage their peers about voting, and utilize social media effectively. This initiative has now integrated into a broader national campaign known as RISE University, which trains students on campuses nationwide.

“With young voters, I believe making them feel heard involves engaging them on the issues they care most about,” Hector added.

Black women

Older activists are committed to mentoring the younger generation.

“I’m determined to make the most of my time and help nurture upcoming leaders,” Campbell stated. “It’s essential to maintain a legacy. We’re only here for a limited duration. The key question we must continually ask ourselves is, ‘What are we accomplishing during our time?’”