Suffragette is a 2015 British historical period drama directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan. Starring Meryl Streep, Carey Mulligan, and Helena Bonham Carter.
The trailer alone for Suffragette is three minutes of emotional climaxes; bombs in mailboxes, bricks through windows, sisterhood, Carey Mulligan slamming a hot iron on her boss’s hand after he sexually abuses her one too many times, and an Imogen Heap-like cover of “Landslide”. It is all very rah-rah emotionally stirring, certainly, and I am always a fan of sticking it to the patriarchy, but as I watched the cinematic adaptation of the Black Friday March—of some 400 women standing together and fighting for each other’s rights—I couldn’t help but notice (though lament might be a better word) one thing: dear god, every single one of these women is pasty-never-seen-the-British-sun white.
Much like Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall, Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette has been accused of whitewashing major historical contributions made by women of colour. And by whitewashing, I mean eliminating any and all representation of major and minor figures who just so happened to have the misfortune of being born not white. I am so tired of white people pretending people of colour didn’t exist or were invisible in, and unimportant to, society until the civil rights movement era. They were there, okay! Racially and sexually oppressed, sure, but they were there! No amount of whitewashing can eggshell-shellac over this plain and simple fact: despite what conventional history may tell you, people of colour have always been a part of western culture, and as such, deserve at least a pittance space in our stories.
In an op-ed, Gavron defended her choice to not include any Indian suffragettes, saying “The census records of the early 1900s do not record ethnic diversity, but judging by names, the photographic evidence, and written accounts, it appears that there were just two women of colour who joined the UK movement.” Just two! Imagine being so certain of your own racial prejudice that you can say, confidently, definitevely, with no educational background in history, that in the historiographical nightmare that is the historical coverage of the suffragette movement, that there were only two women of colour! There are certainly fewer records of women in colour, particularly Indian women, during the suffragette movement. But this isn’t a logical conundrum where on the one hand we have records and photos of white women protesting so therefore there were white women suffragettes and on the other hand we have very few records and very few photos of women of colour protesting so therefore there weren’t any suffragettes of colour. This kind of reductionist approach doesn’t work when we know results have been significantly influenced by known bias. The western world, and the history it kept, was still—and remains—wildly dismissive of ,and unwilling to include, people of colour. Gavron’s inflexibility, and her blatant erasing of one of the most important figures of the suffragette movement, Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, is merely demonstrative of a much larger problem in our society.
Because the movie won’t tell you who they were, or what they did, and instead focuses on two fictionalized white female characters, here are some important women of colour from the suffragette movement. Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh, led the 400-strong march together with Mrs Pankhurst. Sophia was not alone, her compatriots were women like Herabai Tata and her daughter Mithan Lam. An Indian women’s group took part in the 1911 coronation procession of 60, 000 suffragettes. Indian Suffragettes, including Mrs Roy, Mrs Mukerja, and Mrs Bhola Nauth marched in the Empire Pageant Section of the procession and helped usher in a new era for women’s rights. White women’s rights at least.