The abolition of slavery in the South forced all people – men, women, black and white – to reconsider how they defined their freedom in America. The plantation hierarchy, which for centuries had imposed a relative stratification of the Southern population, placing white men at the top, followed by white women, then black men, and finally black women at the bottom, was jeopardized by the emancipation of slaves. In particular, the line between freed white women and black men was obscured. Narrowing a clear divide between the two groups led each to band together and vehemently defend and prioritize their freedom and rights. During discussions about rights and freedom, white women took one side of the debate and black men the other. The double discrimination that characterized this era placed black women in the middle. This arrangement prevented black women from receiving benefits afforded to either group, thereby excluding them from being part of either group. Mary Eliza Church Terrell eloquently summed up this unique position during her speech at the first meeting of the National Association of Colored Women (Brown, 39). She said: "We refer to the fact that this is an association of colored women, because our special status in this country at the present time seems to have demanded that we be self-reliant" (Mary Eliza Church Terrell, 39 years old). To assert their rights and freedom, it was necessary for black women not only to unite and fight together, but to defend the rights of all citizens of the United States of America. In the years before and after 1870, when the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed black men...... middle of paper ......e and gender, always advocated for equality by default universal. In no case could black women specifically defend their rights and freedom, without necessarily raising the voices of all black people and all women. As the famous phrase goes, black women “lifted while climbing” (Brown, 44). In their fight for the right to vote, they pleaded for universal suffrage; in their movement to end lynching, they insisted “that every human being should have a fair trial”; in their demand for fair and decent wages, they insisted that everyone should have the ability to live honestly and adequately on their wages (Brown, 34). Not only did black women occupy a special position in society, where they had to come together to fight for their own rights, but they were also in a position of power that gave them the ability to fight for the rights of all..