Sisters in the Struggle : African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement

The rarely heard stories of the brave women at the forefront of the Civil Rights MovementWomen were at the forefront of the civil rights struggle, but their indvidiual stories were rarely heard. Only recently have historians begun to recognize the central role women played in the battle for racial equality. In Sisters in the Struggle, we hear about the unsung heroes of the civil rights movements such as Ella Baker, who helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper who took on segregation in the Democratic party (and won), and Septima Clark, who created a network of "Citizenship Schools" to teach poor Black men and women to read and write and help them to register to vote. We learn of Black women's activism in the Black Panther Party where they fought the police, as well as the entrenched male leadership, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where the behind-the-scenes work of women kept the organization afloat when it was under siege. It also includes first-person testimonials from the women who made headlines with their courageous resistance to segregation―Rosa Parks, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and Dorothy Height. This collection represents the coming of age of African-American women's history and presents new stories that point the way to future study. Contributors: Bettye Collier-Thomas, Vicki Crawford, Cynthia Griggs Fleming, V. P. Franklin, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Duchess Harris, Sharon Harley, Dorothy I. Height, Chana Kai Lee, Tracye Matthews, Genna Rae McNeil, Rosa Parks, Barbara Ransby, Jacqueline A. Rouse, Elaine Moore Smith, and Linda Faye Williams.

Sisters in the Struggle tells the stories and documents the contributions of African American women to the most important social reform movements in the United States in the twentieth century. Only recently have historians and other researchers begun to recognize black women's central role in the battle for racial and gender equality.

These essays describe the early ideological development of Ella Baker, who helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commitee in 1960. Fannie Lou Hamer's use of her personal anguish to mold her public persona; and Septima Clark's creation of a network of "Citizenship Schools" to teach poor black southerners to read and write to help them register to vote. We learn of black women's activism in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Free Joan Little Movement in the 1970s. It also includes personal testimonies from women who made headlines with their courageous resistance to racism and sexism- Rosa Parks, Charlayne Hunter Gault, and Dorohy Height.

Sisters in the Struggle presents a detailed analysis of the multifaceted roles played by women in civil rights and Black Power organizations, as well as the major political parties at the local, state, and national levels, while documenting the formation of a distinct black feminist consciousness. It represents the coming of age of African American women's history and presents new studies that point the way to future research and analysis.

Contributors: Bettye Collier-Thomas, Vicki Crawford, Cynthia Griggs Fleming, V. P. Franklin, Charlayne-Hunter Gault, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Duchess Harris, Sharon Harley, Dorothy I. Height, Chana Kai Lee, Tracye Matthews, Genna Rae McNeil, Rosa Parks, Barbara Ransby, Jacqueline A. Rouse, Elaine M. Smith, and Linda Faye Williams.

Author Biography: Bettye Collier-Thomas is Professor of History and Director of the Center for African American History and Culture at Temple University. She is the author of Daughters of Thunder: Black Women Preachers and Their Sermons, and co-author, with V.P. Franklin, of My Soul is a Witness: A Chronology of the Civil Rights Era, 1954-1965. V.P. Franklin is Professor of History and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Rosa and Charles Keller Professor of Arts and Humanities at Xavier University of Louisiana. His books include Black-Self Determination: A Cultural History of African American Resistance, The Education of Black Philadelphia, and Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Biography.

Machine generated contents note: P A R T I: Laying the Groundwork: African American Women and Civil Rights Before 1950 1 "Closed Doors": Mary McLeod Bethune on Civil Rights Introduction by Elaine M. Smith Mary McLeod Bethune 2 For the Race in General and Black Women in Particular: The Civil Rights Activities of African American Women's Organizations, 1915-50 V. P. Franklin and Bettye Collier-Thomas 3 Behind-the-Scenes View of a Behind-the-Scenes Organizer: The Roots of Ella Baker's Political Passions Barbara Ransby P A R T i I: Personal Narratives 4 "Tired of Giving In": The Launching of the Montgomery Bus Boycott Rosa Parks 5 "Heirs to a Legacy of Struggle": Charlayne Hunter Integrates the University of Georgia Charlayne Hunter Gault 6 "We Wanted the Voice of a Woman to Be Heard": Black Women and the 1963 March on Washington Dorothy I. Height P A R T I I: Women, Leadershi, and Civil Rights 7 "We Seek to Know in Order to Speak the Truth": Nurturing the Seeds of Discontent-Septima P. Clark and Participatory Leadership Jacqueline A. Rouse 8 African American Women in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Vicki Crawford 9 Anger, Memory, and Personal Power: Fannie Lou Hamer and Civil Rights Leadership Chana Kai Lee PA R T I V: From Civil Rights to Black Power: African American Women and Nationalism 10 "Chronicle of a Death Foretold": Gloria Richardson, the Cambridge Movement, and the Radical Black Activist Tradition Sharon Harley 11 Black Women and Black Power: The Case of Ruby Doris Smith Robinson and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Cynthia Griggs Fleming 12 "Ironies of the Saint": Malcolm X, Black Women, and the Price of Protection Farah Jasmine Griffin 13 "No One Ever Asks What a Man's Role in the Revolution Is": Gender Politics and Leadership in the Black Panther Party, 1966-71 Tracye A. Matthews PA R T V: Law, Feminism, and Politics 14 "Joanne Is You and Joanne Is Me": A Consideration of African American Women and the "Free Joan Little" Movement, 1974-75 Genna Rae McNeil 15 From the Kennedy Commission to the Combahee Collective: Black Feminist Organizing,-1960-80 Duchess Harris 16 The Civil Rights-Black Power Legacy: Black Women Elected Officials at the Local, State, and National Levels Linda Faye Williams Selected Bibliography Permissions Contributors Index All illustrations appear as a groupfollowing page 148..

Women were at the forefront of the civil rights struggle, but their indvidiual stories were rarely heard. Only recently have historians begun to recognize the central role women played in the battle for racial equality.

In Sisters in the Struggle, we hear about the unsung heroes of the civil rights movements such as Ella Baker, who helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper who took on segregation in the Democratic party (and won), and Septima Clark, who created a network of "Citizenship Schools" to teach poor Black men and women to read and write and help them to register to vote. We learn of Black women's activism in the Black Panther Party where they fought the police, as well as the entrenched male leadership, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where the behind-the-scenes work of women kept the organization afloat when it was under siege. It also includes first-person testimonials from the women who made headlines with their courageous resistance to segregation—Rosa Parks, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and Dorothy Height.

This collection represents the coming of age of African-American women's history and presents new stories that point the way to future study.

Contributors: Bettye Collier-Thomas, Vicki Crawford, Cynthia Griggs Fleming, V. P. Franklin, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Duchess Harris, Sharon Harley, Dorothy I. Height, Chana Kai Lee, Tracye Matthews, Genna Rae McNeil, Rosa Parks, Barbara Ransby, Jacqueline A. Rouse, Elaine Moore Smith, and Linda Faye Williams.

Women were at the forefront of the civil rights struggle, but their individual stories were rarely heard. Only recently have historians begun to recognize the central role women played in the battle for racial equality. In Sisters in the Struggle , we hear about the unsung heroes of the civil rights movements such as Ella Baker, who helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper who took on segregation in the Democratic party (and won), and Septima Clark, who created a network of "Citizenship Schools" to teach poor Black men and women to read and write and help them to register to vote. We learn of Black women's activism in the Black Panther Party where they fought the police, as well as the entrenched male leadership, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where the behind-the-scenes work of women kept the organization afloat when it was under siege. It also includes first-person testimonials from the women who made headlines with their courageous resistance to segregation--Rosa Parks, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and Dorothy Height. This collection represents the coming of age of African-American women's history and presents new stories that point the way to future study. Contributors: Bettye Collier-Thomas, Vicki Crawford, Cynthia Griggs Fleming, V. P. Franklin, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Duchess Harris, Sharon Harley, Dorothy I. Height, Chana Kai Lee, Tracye Matthews, Genna Rae McNeil, Rosa Parks, Barbara Ransby, Jacqueline A. Rouse, Elaine Moore Smith, and Linda Faye Williams. Tells the stories and documents the contributions of African American women involved in the struggle for racial and gender equality through the civil rights and black power movements in the United States. Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) stands as an eminent American and one of the country's most distinguished women.