Debbie Z. Harwell
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9781628460957
- eISBN:
- 9781626740556
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628460957.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Chapter Two explains how WIMS organizers Dorothy Height, a black Christian woman, and Polly Cowan, a white Jewish woman, met and developed WIMS. Following the arrest of 300 youth working on voter ...
More
Chapter Two explains how WIMS organizers Dorothy Height, a black Christian woman, and Polly Cowan, a white Jewish woman, met and developed WIMS. Following the arrest of 300 youth working on voter registration in Selma, Alabama, SNCC asked the NCNW for help. Height, Cowan, and two other women (one white and one black) traveled to Selma and met with the young people. That meeting was a success, but the two white women failed miserably at building a bridge with southern white women when their northern ways backfired. The prototype for WIMS came from this valuable lesson. This chapter discusses the Women’s Inter-organizational Committee meeting, called in response to the Selma experience, of leaders from national women’s organizations in southern cities. Here, women from Jackson, Mississippi, led by Clarie Collins Harvey, asked the NCNW to bring women to their community to act as a “ministry of presence” to reduce racial tensions.Less
Chapter Two explains how WIMS organizers Dorothy Height, a black Christian woman, and Polly Cowan, a white Jewish woman, met and developed WIMS. Following the arrest of 300 youth working on voter registration in Selma, Alabama, SNCC asked the NCNW for help. Height, Cowan, and two other women (one white and one black) traveled to Selma and met with the young people. That meeting was a success, but the two white women failed miserably at building a bridge with southern white women when their northern ways backfired. The prototype for WIMS came from this valuable lesson. This chapter discusses the Women’s Inter-organizational Committee meeting, called in response to the Selma experience, of leaders from national women’s organizations in southern cities. Here, women from Jackson, Mississippi, led by Clarie Collins Harvey, asked the NCNW to bring women to their community to act as a “ministry of presence” to reduce racial tensions.
Rebecca Tuuri
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638904
- eISBN:
- 9781469638928
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638904.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter explores the first three decades of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). In 1935, educator, clubwoman, and politician Mary McLeod Bethune founded the NCNW as an organization of ...
More
This chapter explores the first three decades of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). In 1935, educator, clubwoman, and politician Mary McLeod Bethune founded the NCNW as an organization of black women's organizations to create a united lobbying voice. By utilizing a strategy of broker politics, the NCNW opened up professional opportunities for black women and lobbied for civil rights legislation. NCNW women also enforced strict standards of respectability as they sought such power. While the NCNW claimed to speak on behalf of all black women, a majority of its membership came from black sororities. This college-based membership, as well as the council's focus on black professionalization, meant that many working class women viewed the organization as elitist and uninterested in their concerns. However, beginning in the mid 1950s and continuing through the 1960s, the NCNW became more significantly involved in civil rights and the needs of the poor.Less
This chapter explores the first three decades of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). In 1935, educator, clubwoman, and politician Mary McLeod Bethune founded the NCNW as an organization of black women's organizations to create a united lobbying voice. By utilizing a strategy of broker politics, the NCNW opened up professional opportunities for black women and lobbied for civil rights legislation. NCNW women also enforced strict standards of respectability as they sought such power. While the NCNW claimed to speak on behalf of all black women, a majority of its membership came from black sororities. This college-based membership, as well as the council's focus on black professionalization, meant that many working class women viewed the organization as elitist and uninterested in their concerns. However, beginning in the mid 1950s and continuing through the 1960s, the NCNW became more significantly involved in civil rights and the needs of the poor.
Rebecca Tuuri
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638904
- eISBN:
- 9781469638928
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638904.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
In the fall of 1963, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) took steps to become more directly involved in the civil rights movement when Dorothy Height travelled with a small interracial team of ...
More
In the fall of 1963, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) took steps to become more directly involved in the civil rights movement when Dorothy Height travelled with a small interracial team of elite clubwomen to investigate the abuse of activist children imprisoned in Selma. The team moved behind the scenes and tried to establish ties with local black and white women to better support the movement. After the Selma trip, white team member Polly Cowan developed plans to bring additional teams of interracial middle and upper class women down to the South. At a March 1964 Atlanta meeting of black and white southern clubwomen, Clarie Collins Harvey, a black businesswoman and clubwoman from Jackson, Mississippi, invited Cowan and the NCNW to provide support to civil rights efforts in Jackson. Her invitation led Cowan and Height to develop plans for Wednesdays in Mississippi to help with Freedom Summer.Less
In the fall of 1963, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) took steps to become more directly involved in the civil rights movement when Dorothy Height travelled with a small interracial team of elite clubwomen to investigate the abuse of activist children imprisoned in Selma. The team moved behind the scenes and tried to establish ties with local black and white women to better support the movement. After the Selma trip, white team member Polly Cowan developed plans to bring additional teams of interracial middle and upper class women down to the South. At a March 1964 Atlanta meeting of black and white southern clubwomen, Clarie Collins Harvey, a black businesswoman and clubwoman from Jackson, Mississippi, invited Cowan and the NCNW to provide support to civil rights efforts in Jackson. Her invitation led Cowan and Height to develop plans for Wednesdays in Mississippi to help with Freedom Summer.
Davis W. Houck and David E. Dixon
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604731071
- eISBN:
- 9781604737608
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604731071.003.0026
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Born on March 24, 1912, in Richmond, Virginia, Dorothy Irene Height attended public schools in Rankin, Pennsylvania. Known for her oratorical skills, Height led the United Christian Youth Movement, ...
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Born on March 24, 1912, in Richmond, Virginia, Dorothy Irene Height attended public schools in Rankin, Pennsylvania. Known for her oratorical skills, Height led the United Christian Youth Movement, an organization that actively opposed the practice of lynching, segregation in the armed forces, unfair distribution of public accommodations, and excesses in the criminal justice system. She was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a committee formed to address the fallout of the Harlem riots of 1935 and met Mary McLeod Bethune, who would exert a considerable influence on Height’s career in the coming years, in 1937. On October 5, 1963, Height spoke to a local audience of blacks at the First Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama. This chapter reproduces Height’s speech, in which she accused Selma Sheriff Jim Clark and Alabama Governor George C. Wallace of racism.Less
Born on March 24, 1912, in Richmond, Virginia, Dorothy Irene Height attended public schools in Rankin, Pennsylvania. Known for her oratorical skills, Height led the United Christian Youth Movement, an organization that actively opposed the practice of lynching, segregation in the armed forces, unfair distribution of public accommodations, and excesses in the criminal justice system. She was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a committee formed to address the fallout of the Harlem riots of 1935 and met Mary McLeod Bethune, who would exert a considerable influence on Height’s career in the coming years, in 1937. On October 5, 1963, Height spoke to a local audience of blacks at the First Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama. This chapter reproduces Height’s speech, in which she accused Selma Sheriff Jim Clark and Alabama Governor George C. Wallace of racism.
Rebecca Tuuri
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638904
- eISBN:
- 9781469638928
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638904.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter explores the National Council of Negro Women's (NCNW) international work, focusing especially on NCNW's postwar work for human rights and its later formation of an international division ...
More
This chapter explores the National Council of Negro Women's (NCNW) international work, focusing especially on NCNW's postwar work for human rights and its later formation of an international division in the 1970s. In 1973 Congress passed the Percy Amendment to the U.S. Foreign Service Act that pushed the U.S. government to ensure that women were beneficiaries of international development projects. In this climate, NCNW won $1.7 million dollars in funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) between 1975 and 1985. The U.S. government saw the women of the NCNW, as a black American women-led nonprofit organization, as the "natural allies" of women of African descent worldwide. With this money, the NCNW first hosted a concurrent conference for women of African descent at the International Women's Year conference in Mexico City, established an international division, and tried to create international poverty programming like it had in Mississippi.Less
This chapter explores the National Council of Negro Women's (NCNW) international work, focusing especially on NCNW's postwar work for human rights and its later formation of an international division in the 1970s. In 1973 Congress passed the Percy Amendment to the U.S. Foreign Service Act that pushed the U.S. government to ensure that women were beneficiaries of international development projects. In this climate, NCNW won $1.7 million dollars in funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) between 1975 and 1985. The U.S. government saw the women of the NCNW, as a black American women-led nonprofit organization, as the "natural allies" of women of African descent worldwide. With this money, the NCNW first hosted a concurrent conference for women of African descent at the International Women's Year conference in Mexico City, established an international division, and tried to create international poverty programming like it had in Mississippi.
Rebecca Tuuri
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638904
- eISBN:
- 9781469638928
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638904.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This introduction highlights how the current scholarly focus on radical women's activism often overlooks the important bridge-building activism of black moderate and middle class women such as those ...
More
This introduction highlights how the current scholarly focus on radical women's activism often overlooks the important bridge-building activism of black moderate and middle class women such as those in the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). These black clubwomen were able to move between mainstream political and business leaders and marginalized activists who often demanded radical solutions to racism and poverty. Black middle class NCNW women not only engaged in community-focused racial uplift, but they also utilized a national network of professional and elite women to bring resources to those who could not attain them on their own. At times, the NCNW was hindered by its focus on respectability, which sometimes limited NCNW's criticism of the United States in order to build and maintain power in mainstream America.Less
This introduction highlights how the current scholarly focus on radical women's activism often overlooks the important bridge-building activism of black moderate and middle class women such as those in the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). These black clubwomen were able to move between mainstream political and business leaders and marginalized activists who often demanded radical solutions to racism and poverty. Black middle class NCNW women not only engaged in community-focused racial uplift, but they also utilized a national network of professional and elite women to bring resources to those who could not attain them on their own. At times, the NCNW was hindered by its focus on respectability, which sometimes limited NCNW's criticism of the United States in order to build and maintain power in mainstream America.
Rebecca Tuuri
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638904
- eISBN:
- 9781469638928
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638904.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This conclusion offers a brief overview of the National Council of Negro women (NCNW) from 1980 to the present, looking especially at its changes during the Regan era. After Ronald Regan's election, ...
More
This conclusion offers a brief overview of the National Council of Negro women (NCNW) from 1980 to the present, looking especially at its changes during the Regan era. After Ronald Regan's election, the NCNW lost a significant proportion of its federal grant funding. NCNW then began to build connections with private businesses through its network of professional black women. One example of this was that in 1986 the NCNW created the Black Family Reunion with significant support from Procter and Gamble. As government funding dried up, NCNW turned inward and began to focus again on broadening opportunities for professional and elite women. Today, NCNW continues to ensure that black women be given educational, political, and economic opportunities and serve in leadership positions in mainstream America.Less
This conclusion offers a brief overview of the National Council of Negro women (NCNW) from 1980 to the present, looking especially at its changes during the Regan era. After Ronald Regan's election, the NCNW lost a significant proportion of its federal grant funding. NCNW then began to build connections with private businesses through its network of professional black women. One example of this was that in 1986 the NCNW created the Black Family Reunion with significant support from Procter and Gamble. As government funding dried up, NCNW turned inward and began to focus again on broadening opportunities for professional and elite women. Today, NCNW continues to ensure that black women be given educational, political, and economic opportunities and serve in leadership positions in mainstream America.
Rebecca Tuuri
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638904
- eISBN:
- 9781469638928
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638904.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter examines the first summer of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)-sponsored civil rights organization Wednesdays in Mississippi (WIMS). WIMS brought down forty-eight black and ...
More
This chapter examines the first summer of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)-sponsored civil rights organization Wednesdays in Mississippi (WIMS). WIMS brought down forty-eight black and white, Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic women from northern and Midwestern cities to personally witness and provide support for the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer, sponsored by the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO). WIMS relied on a behind-the-scenes approach that did not publicly challenge segregation, but sought to quietly reason with local women to support civil rights activists fighting for voting rights and desegregation of schools, businesses, and other facilities. Although the strategy of personal witness proved limited, WIMS helped connect NCNW to local black activists in Mississippi who advocated for more direct action protests and planted the seeds for a later change of NCNW's direction.Less
This chapter examines the first summer of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)-sponsored civil rights organization Wednesdays in Mississippi (WIMS). WIMS brought down forty-eight black and white, Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic women from northern and Midwestern cities to personally witness and provide support for the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer, sponsored by the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO). WIMS relied on a behind-the-scenes approach that did not publicly challenge segregation, but sought to quietly reason with local women to support civil rights activists fighting for voting rights and desegregation of schools, businesses, and other facilities. Although the strategy of personal witness proved limited, WIMS helped connect NCNW to local black activists in Mississippi who advocated for more direct action protests and planted the seeds for a later change of NCNW's direction.
Davis W. Houck and David E. Dixon (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604731071
- eISBN:
- 9781604737608
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604731071.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Historians have long agreed that women—black and white—were instrumental in shaping the civil rights movement. Until recently, though, such claims have not been supported by easily accessed texts of ...
More
Historians have long agreed that women—black and white—were instrumental in shaping the civil rights movement. Until recently, though, such claims have not been supported by easily accessed texts of speeches and addresses. This book presents thirty-nine full-text addresses by women who spoke out while the struggle was at its most intense. Beginning with the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education and extending through the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the book chronicles the unique and important rhetorical contributions made by such well-known activists as Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Daisy Bates, Lillian Smith, Mamie Till-Mobley, Lorraine Hansberry, Dorothy Height, and Rosa Parks. It also includes speeches from lesser-known but influential leaders such as Della Sullins, Marie Foster, Johnnie Carr, Jane Schutt, and Barbara Posey. Nearly every speech was discovered in local, regional, or national archives, and many are published or transcribed from audiotape here for the first time. The text introduces each speaker and occasion with a headnote highlighting key biographical and background details. The book also includes a general introduction that places these public addresses in context. The book gives voice to stalwarts whose passionate orations were vital to every phase of a movement that changed America.Less
Historians have long agreed that women—black and white—were instrumental in shaping the civil rights movement. Until recently, though, such claims have not been supported by easily accessed texts of speeches and addresses. This book presents thirty-nine full-text addresses by women who spoke out while the struggle was at its most intense. Beginning with the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education and extending through the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the book chronicles the unique and important rhetorical contributions made by such well-known activists as Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Daisy Bates, Lillian Smith, Mamie Till-Mobley, Lorraine Hansberry, Dorothy Height, and Rosa Parks. It also includes speeches from lesser-known but influential leaders such as Della Sullins, Marie Foster, Johnnie Carr, Jane Schutt, and Barbara Posey. Nearly every speech was discovered in local, regional, or national archives, and many are published or transcribed from audiotape here for the first time. The text introduces each speaker and occasion with a headnote highlighting key biographical and background details. The book also includes a general introduction that places these public addresses in context. The book gives voice to stalwarts whose passionate orations were vital to every phase of a movement that changed America.
Rebecca Tuuri
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638904
- eISBN:
- 9781469638928
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638904.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
When women were denied a major speaking role at the 1963 March on Washington, Dorothy Height, head of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), organized her own women's conference for the very ...
More
When women were denied a major speaking role at the 1963 March on Washington, Dorothy Height, head of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), organized her own women's conference for the very next day. Defying the march's male organizers, Height helped harness the womanpower waiting in the wings. Height’s careful tactics and quiet determination come to the fore in this first history of the NCNW, the largest black women's organization in the United States at the height of the civil rights, Black Power, and feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Offering a sweeping view of the NCNW's behind-the-scenes efforts to fight racism, poverty, and sexism in the late twentieth century, Rebecca Tuuri examines how the group teamed with U.S. presidents, foundations, and grassroots activists alike to implement a number of important domestic development and international aid projects. Drawing on original interviews, extensive organizational records, and other rich sources, Tuuri’s work narrates the achievements of a set of seemingly moderate, elite activists who were able to use their personal, financial, and social connections to push for change as they facilitated grassroots, cooperative, and radical activism.Less
When women were denied a major speaking role at the 1963 March on Washington, Dorothy Height, head of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), organized her own women's conference for the very next day. Defying the march's male organizers, Height helped harness the womanpower waiting in the wings. Height’s careful tactics and quiet determination come to the fore in this first history of the NCNW, the largest black women's organization in the United States at the height of the civil rights, Black Power, and feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Offering a sweeping view of the NCNW's behind-the-scenes efforts to fight racism, poverty, and sexism in the late twentieth century, Rebecca Tuuri examines how the group teamed with U.S. presidents, foundations, and grassroots activists alike to implement a number of important domestic development and international aid projects. Drawing on original interviews, extensive organizational records, and other rich sources, Tuuri’s work narrates the achievements of a set of seemingly moderate, elite activists who were able to use their personal, financial, and social connections to push for change as they facilitated grassroots, cooperative, and radical activism.