Three times in the last 100 years, major pushes for Black civil rights ended up producing the greatest gains not for Black people — but for white women.
The first wave came in the early 1900s.
Black Americans were actively organizing, protesting, and agitating for full citizenship — not just freedom from slavery, but access to voting, protection from lynching, quality education, and economic opportunity. Groups like the Niagara Movement (founded in 1905) — a forerunner to the NAACP — called for racial equality and full suffrage for both Black men and women.
Black women were especially active, building political associations through the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and pushing for justice within organizations like the NAACP and YWCA. Leaders like Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper risked everything to demand not just women’s rights — but Black women’s rights.
Yet when the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, it was white women who reaped the benefits. Black women in the Jim Crow South still faced poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, and outright violence at the ballot box. The civil rights momentum — driven in large part by Black organizing — was rerouted into a milestone victory that left Black women largely on the outside looking in.
The second wave came during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ’60s.
Landmark victories like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and early affirmative action policies were designed to redress racial discrimination. But when universities and corporations began implementing these policies, white women emerged as the largest statistical beneficiaries.
They gained massive ground in education, corporate leadership, and public sector jobs — often using the very frameworks created to uplift historically marginalized Black communities.
It’s no coincidence that white women couldn’t even open a bank account on their own in many places until 1972 — but by the end of that decade, they had already begun ascending into the middle and upper classes at a historic pace.
Then came the third wave — the post-George Floyd era.
As we sat through COVID lockdowns, the world watched a Black man slowly murdered under the knee of a police officer. The horror sparked what looked like a long-overdue reckoning. Statements were made. Donations pledged. Black squares posted. DEI became a corporate mantra.
But when the smoke cleared and the Zoom panels ended, white women were once again the main beneficiaries. DEI jobs multiplied — many filled by white women with little background in racial justice. Corporate boardrooms diversified, yes — but mostly along gender lines.
Meanwhile, Black-led organizations were underfunded, and racial wealth gaps remained unchanged. Another moment of Black tragedy had been repurposed into a stepping stone for others.
Let’s be clear: white women deserve equality. They deserve fair pay, equal opportunity, and inclusion. Their gains are real — and necessary.
But the pattern of Black struggle fueling white progress is a thing. How can we ensure that when Black pain ignites social progress, Black communities are not once again left holding the bill while others cash the check?
Here are three key actions to make this a reality:
- Intentionality over universality: Stop hiding behind vague “diversity” goals. Future efforts must be specifically designed to address anti-Black disparities, with clearly defined benchmarks in education, housing, healthcare, and wealth.
- Enforce accountability: Every initiative must include racial impact assessments. If the benefits are drifting away from Black communities, course correction shouldn’t be optional — it should be required.
- Center Black leadership: Programs created for Black people should include Black people in leadership positions. Top-down, outsider-led only approaches miss the mark. Solutions rooted in or that are guided by lived experience are far more likely to be effective and equitable.
Because here’s the truth: Black liberation has always opened doors. It’s time Black communities actually get to walk through them.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Jeffrey Kass' work on Medium.