This Is What Black Women Are Voting For

Photography by Nicole Buchanan, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and Marissa Leshnov.

They know what it’s like to be forgotten. They know what it’s like to be invisible. They know what it’s like to be demonized. They know what it’s like to be objectified. They know pain. And they know oppression. They know loss, and they know struggle.

They also know, there is no going back. Life is about moving forward — and a majority of Black women are voting just for that. For progress. For growth. For change. For purpose. For equality.

No one knows what Nov. 5 will bring. Will America turn the page on the Donald Trump saga? Or will America embrace his vision of a combative, possibly totalitarian future?

It’s yet unclear. But Black women know that this fight is bigger than us. It’s bigger than Trump or Kamala Harris. It’s bigger than any individual. So if Black women vote, it’s for not just their future, but this country’s future.

We know we have to fight, to vote, to concede nothing. We know it will be hard. We know we will be punished for it. But we do not care.

Black women know we have to turn the page to a brighter future, or be consumed and destroyed by this country’s violent past.

Photojournalists Nicole Buchanan (Atlanta), Laylah Amatullah Barrayn (Brooklyn) and Marissa Leshnov (Oakland) spoke with Black women at the polls during early voting in three communities about what they hope their votes yield in 2025.

“Housing is the most important issue for me and the increased rates and the inflation you know. I see that it should be decreased, I mean I’m not a middle-class person. I am, you know, someone that works every day, and everything is going up from toilet tissue to food to your cost of living. I get a raise and then it’s taken away. It’s just everything, everything is just basically being taken away from us.”

“[The most important issue for me] is inflation and the economics of everything. Giving the youth what they need, giving them the proper influence. I just feel like the people that they have on the front end — we feel like we only have two options, but there are more options. I just don’t really like the options that were presented to us…You know, like there’s so many things that need to be fixed. And we need someone in there that’s going to go in every department and fix things, and not be selfish and greedy.”

“I’ve lived in Atlanta for 40 years. This is one of the most important votes that we’ve ever had the privilege to exercise. I grew up a public school child. I went to public college. I think about all of the kids and families that would be disenfranchised if the other side had their way.

As well as, all of the other freedoms: a woman’s right to choose and to do with her own body. I think about my small nieces and if they should ever need an abortion or the care that would come from that procedure to save their lives. I think about the elders in the community, the possibility of them losing their food stamps and Medicaid and Medicare. I voted not for myself but for everybody that we touch.”

“I’m really happy to vote for the first black woman president ― so very excited. The most important to me is the economy. I know a lot of people are out there struggling, and I hope that [Kamala Harris] is able to bring costs down to help everyone else. I’m also hoping for peace and less drama.”

“I want Kamala Harris now because she seemed like she do a better job than Trump do to me. I just feel like she’ll be a better president than Trump.

I want them to not stop abortion. I want them to keep abortion going because I was a little girl once upon a time, and I had a bad life. If abortion [wasn’t a possibility], then I would have been a mother of six children or seven children at my young age. I wanted to finish school, but I couldn’t finish school. If Trump [wins], in office, he’d create problems when there ain’t no problem.”

“Thankfully, I am able to vote. And to not let this man get into the presidency. The most important issue to me right now is inflation. Money, financial difficulties, and housing for the elderly. I am hoping for a democratic win, and I’m hoping that we can bring this country together.”

“My biggest concern is seniors, how to address the senior concerns, economics, health issues, everything that touches our lives. People are living longer, and we need our issues addressed also.

I’m hoping for unity, I’m hoping for peace. Those are the two things I’m hoping, not even hoping, praying for, unity and peace. Among the community, among the country. Just peace, a lot of peace.”

“The most important issue to me is living and the environment. I am hoping that people like me, who are getting up in age, that we will have better places to live, more affordable places to live, and better for my family.”

“I’m really hoping that we turn things around, our country is really on the decline, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t have anywhere to run to. I just like to see things be on a better path than where it is now.

I want to see things get better for everybody, no matter who they vote for, what they feel. This is our country, we all live here, we’re all in it together. Whoever has our nation’s best interests at heart, and makes a difference, I’m here for it.”

“I think it’s very important that, now, at 22, I’m able to vote and that now I have an opinion on the presidency. Hopefully crime will change and the police force will change. I am hoping that Kamala Harris wins.”

“Most important is, of course, abortion, and the ban on that and our rights as women. My daughter is 23, so she hasn’t even had any children, and I don’t want her rights to be affected by somebody else making that decision for her. She hasn’t even thought about having kids yet, but it’s the fact that 10 years down the line [it] could be an issue for her, and I don’t want that to be an issue. I want her to make that decision for herself. So that’s my main issue.

The second issue is [the possibility] of Donald Trump in office. In 2016, I literally woke up the next day and cried. I thought we were better than that as a country, and to know that so many people voted for this man that’s a sexist, a racist, a felon, and all that was so disappointing and that makes you look at everybody differently.”

“I’m excited to vote for our first African American female president. One of the issues important to me is actually the recall for the mayor of Oakland. It’s important because Oakland needs some help and some support, especially with homelessness and crime. For me, making the right decision that will really help our city was key for me.

I am hoping that Kamala is voted our president for the United States and just that we come together as a country and not be divided no matter who wins. [I’m hoping] that racism [doesn’t win] and that we just kind of understand each other. That’s what I’m hoping for.”