In response to your first question: beginning in the early 1800s, many women took a leading role in the struggle for black rights. Many of the efforts on the part of black women took place in "women's groups" because among black activists at that time--black men were still granted more rights than black women and, black men were not entirely willing to let black women have an equal place at the table. This work, which eventually abolished slavery then, led to the suffragist movement, which led to women winning the right to vote. This wave of feminism gave way to many other things and slowly moved into the civil rights movement that began in the 1950s. As was the case 100 years previously, many women took leading roles in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. However, there were still many problems with black men hesitant about giving women credit for their participation and leadership. This internal struggle in many ways--though not entirely- gave way to the women's rights movement of the 1960s, 1970s and even into today.

Secondly, in many ways women are better off today than ever before because we are aware of more choices/options available to us. We have more examples of "women can do everything." However, never before have so many people tried to prevent us from accessing those choices/options. So in that way it is much harder. Overall however, women are clearly in a better place today than they were 30 years ago. Although we don't always use or access all that is available to protect--nor does the law always work the way it is supposed to--we at least have more legal ground to stand on than ever before. I hope this helps with your report. Good luck.

—Amy