Historian Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, "who helped bring to light the long-suppressed role of black women in the women's suffrage movement," died December 25, the New York Times reported. She was 77. Terborg-Penn was the author of seven books, most notably African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1920 (1998), "one of the first book-length examinations of black women in the suffrage movement, and it challenged the existing narrative that was dominated, and framed, by white activists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton."
"She committed the first decades of her career to the deep research that was required to pull back the curtain, dispel the myths and otherwise challenge the story about the history of women and the vote," said Martha S. Jones, a history professor at Johns Hopkins University.
While bringing to life this neglected aspect of American history, Terborg-Penn and a few others also established a new field of study. "These are people who literally created the field of African-American women's history, and Dr. Terborg-Penn's writing on suffrage was a critical part of that," Francille Rusan Wilson, national director of the Association of Black Women Historians, observed. Terborg-Penn was a founder of the association in 1979 and its first national director.
Shortly before her death, she attended a meeting of the Association of Black Women Historians, held in Los Angeles, to celebrate its 40th anniversary. "Generations of historians regard her as an important figure in their study and scholarship," said her daughter, Jeanna Penn. "They were so excited to see her. It was like Beyoncé had walked into the room."