The abolition of slavery in the South forced all people - men, women, blacks and whites alike - to reconsider how they defined their freedom in America. The plantation hierarchy, which for centuries had imposed the 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 endangered by the emancipation of the plantations . slaves. In particular, the demarcation between white women and freed black men was obscured. The narrowing of a clear divide between the two groups has led each to unite and vehemently support and prioritize their freedom and rights. During discussions about rights and freedom, white women took one side of the debate and black men took the other. The double discrimination that characterized this era left black women positioned in the middle. This agreement denied black women from reaping the benefits extended to both groups, effectively excluding them from being part of either group. Mary Eliza Church Terrell summarized this unique position eloquently during her speech at the first meeting of the National Association of Colored Women (Brown, 39). She stated, “we refer to the fact that this is an association of colored women, because our peculiar condition in this country at the present time seems to have required that we should stand alone” (Mary Eliza Church Terrell, 39). To pursue their rights and freedom, it was necessary for black women to not only unite and fight together, but to defend the rights of all citizens of the United States of America. the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment ensured that blacks... at the center of the charter......and gender, by default, always supported universal equality. Under no circumstances could black women specifically advocate for their rights and freedom, without necessarily uplifting all black men and women. As the famous phrase states, black women “lifted themselves as they climbed” (Brown, 44). In their fight for the right to vote, they supported universal suffrage; in their movement to end lynching, they demanded “that every human being should have a fair trial”; in demanding just and decent wages, they insisted that all people should have the ability to live honestly and adequately on their wages (Brown, 34). Black women not only assumed a unique position in society, where they had to unite to fight for their rights, but they also found themselves in a situation of power, which granted them the ability to fight for the rights of all..