[1] She wrote poetry and gave speeches highlighting the experience of African American women who were still enslaved by their inability to vote, receiving considerable praise from other suffragists for her contributions to the movement.

[2] Anderson was born to free black parents, Elijah and Guilly Ann Bowman, in Michigan City, Indiana.

[3] The Bowmans were one of two black families in Michigan City where Anderson was barred from the segregated Indiana Public Schools.

[1] When the Michigan City white community noticed her talent in poetry, she was admitted to a previously all-white school at age 12.

[4] This work reflected her Christian faith, thankfulness to the leaders who led the abolition of slavery, and hope that African Americans would serve their nation, pursue educational opportunities, and "bring our latent talents up / On level with mankind.

"[4] When Anderson lived in San Francisco in the 1890s, she worked alongside white suffragists to campaign for one of the nation's first state woman suffrage referendums.