This letter was written to Samuel Wood from Charles Langston, the leader of the black male suffrage movement in Kansas. Langston addressed two issues; removing the word white from the Kansas Constitution and women's suffrage. The word white prohibited black males from voting in Kansas leaving them powerless. Although Langston did support women's suffrage, he felt their movement was hampering the progress of black male suffrage. Therefore, he was not going to speak on the issue of women's suffrage. Like many Kansans during this time, Langston thought women should wait their turn for their right to vote. Samuel Wood was an influential politician and a supporter of women's suffrage but not black male suffrage. Black men were unable to vote in Kansas until the passing of the fifteenth amendment in 1870.
