Sarah Azaransky
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199744817
- eISBN:
- 9780199897308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744817.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines Murray's coming of age politically in Harlem in the 1930s and 1940s. By examining her poetry, short stories, and political essays, it traces Murray's emerging concerns around ...
More
This chapter examines Murray's coming of age politically in Harlem in the 1930s and 1940s. By examining her poetry, short stories, and political essays, it traces Murray's emerging concerns around race, gender, and sexuality and the historic disfranchisement of black Americans. It shows how the themes of identity, history, and democratic eschatology emerge in her early writing.Less
This chapter examines Murray's coming of age politically in Harlem in the 1930s and 1940s. By examining her poetry, short stories, and political essays, it traces Murray's emerging concerns around race, gender, and sexuality and the historic disfranchisement of black Americans. It shows how the themes of identity, history, and democratic eschatology emerge in her early writing.
Sarah Azaransky
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199744817
- eISBN:
- 9780199897308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744817.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter describes landmark legal arguments Murray made about equal protection in the 1960s. Using the category of “Jane Crow,” she demanded that the law be responsive to the synthetic nature of ...
More
This chapter describes landmark legal arguments Murray made about equal protection in the 1960s. Using the category of “Jane Crow,” she demanded that the law be responsive to the synthetic nature of identity. In so doing, Murray placed African American women's experiences at the center of democratic consideration. Despite her attempts to build coalitions, she found herself increasingly at odds with leaders of the feminist and Black Freedom movements.Less
This chapter describes landmark legal arguments Murray made about equal protection in the 1960s. Using the category of “Jane Crow,” she demanded that the law be responsive to the synthetic nature of identity. In so doing, Murray placed African American women's experiences at the center of democratic consideration. Despite her attempts to build coalitions, she found herself increasingly at odds with leaders of the feminist and Black Freedom movements.
Sarah Azaransky
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199744817
- eISBN:
- 9780199897308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744817.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter discusses Murray's transition in the 1970s and 1980s from a career focused on the law to one devoted primarily to what she called “moral and spiritual problems.” It offers a systematic ...
More
This chapter discusses Murray's transition in the 1970s and 1980s from a career focused on the law to one devoted primarily to what she called “moral and spiritual problems.” It offers a systematic reading of the themes of salvation, suffering, and the coming kingdom that animated Murray's sermons and places her theological program in conversation with contemporary womanist and black feminist scholars.Less
This chapter discusses Murray's transition in the 1970s and 1980s from a career focused on the law to one devoted primarily to what she called “moral and spiritual problems.” It offers a systematic reading of the themes of salvation, suffering, and the coming kingdom that animated Murray's sermons and places her theological program in conversation with contemporary womanist and black feminist scholars.
Sarah Azaransky
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199744817
- eISBN:
- 9780199897308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744817.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter covers Murray's career and writings as a young lawyer in the late 1940s through the 1950s. It explores her development of a new kind of American history and an account of black American ...
More
This chapter covers Murray's career and writings as a young lawyer in the late 1940s through the 1950s. It explores her development of a new kind of American history and an account of black American identity as integral to her democratic thought. In response to McCarthyist insinuations that she is disloyal, she published a family memoir that portrayed her multiracial family and the history of violence against which it was formed. In the late 1950s, Murray left the United States for Ghana in search for a sense of home, but ultimately concluded that her racial identity and history made her irrevocably American.Less
This chapter covers Murray's career and writings as a young lawyer in the late 1940s through the 1950s. It explores her development of a new kind of American history and an account of black American identity as integral to her democratic thought. In response to McCarthyist insinuations that she is disloyal, she published a family memoir that portrayed her multiracial family and the history of violence against which it was formed. In the late 1950s, Murray left the United States for Ghana in search for a sense of home, but ultimately concluded that her racial identity and history made her irrevocably American.
Sarah Azaransky
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199744817
- eISBN:
- 9780199897308
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744817.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Pauli Murray (1910–85) was a poet, lawyer, activist, and priest, as well as a significant figure in the civil rights and women's movements. Throughout her careers and activism, Murray espoused faith ...
More
Pauli Murray (1910–85) was a poet, lawyer, activist, and priest, as well as a significant figure in the civil rights and women's movements. Throughout her careers and activism, Murray espoused faith in an American democracy that is partially present and yet to come. In the 1940s Murray was in the vanguard of black activists to use nonviolent direct action. A decade before the Montgomery bus boycott, Murray organized sit-ins of segregated restaurants in Washington D.C. and was arrested for sitting in the front section of a bus in Virginia. Murray pioneered the category Jane Crow to describe discrimination she experienced as a result of racism and sexism. She used Jane Crow in the 1960s to expand equal protection provisions for African American women. A co-founder of the National Organization of Women, Murray insisted on the interrelation of all human rights. Her professional and personal relationships included major figures in the ongoing struggle for civil rights for all Americans, including Thurgood Marshall and Eleanor Roosevelt. In seminary in the 1970s, Murray developed a black feminist critique of emerging black male and white feminist theologies. After becoming the first African American woman Episcopal priest in 1977, Murray emphasized the particularity of African American women's experiences, while proclaiming a universal message of salvation. This book examines Murray's substantial body of published writings as well personal letters, journals, and unpublished manuscripts. The book traces the development of Murray's thought over fifty years, ranging from her theologically rich democratic criticism of the 1930s to her democratically inflected sermons of the 1980s.Less
Pauli Murray (1910–85) was a poet, lawyer, activist, and priest, as well as a significant figure in the civil rights and women's movements. Throughout her careers and activism, Murray espoused faith in an American democracy that is partially present and yet to come. In the 1940s Murray was in the vanguard of black activists to use nonviolent direct action. A decade before the Montgomery bus boycott, Murray organized sit-ins of segregated restaurants in Washington D.C. and was arrested for sitting in the front section of a bus in Virginia. Murray pioneered the category Jane Crow to describe discrimination she experienced as a result of racism and sexism. She used Jane Crow in the 1960s to expand equal protection provisions for African American women. A co-founder of the National Organization of Women, Murray insisted on the interrelation of all human rights. Her professional and personal relationships included major figures in the ongoing struggle for civil rights for all Americans, including Thurgood Marshall and Eleanor Roosevelt. In seminary in the 1970s, Murray developed a black feminist critique of emerging black male and white feminist theologies. After becoming the first African American woman Episcopal priest in 1977, Murray emphasized the particularity of African American women's experiences, while proclaiming a universal message of salvation. This book examines Murray's substantial body of published writings as well personal letters, journals, and unpublished manuscripts. The book traces the development of Murray's thought over fifty years, ranging from her theologically rich democratic criticism of the 1930s to her democratically inflected sermons of the 1980s.
Sarah Azaransky
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199744817
- eISBN:
- 9780199897308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744817.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter concludes that Pauli Murray's critical attentions to identity, history, and her articulation of a democratic eschatology provide readers with resources for contemporary discussions of ...
More
This chapter concludes that Pauli Murray's critical attentions to identity, history, and her articulation of a democratic eschatology provide readers with resources for contemporary discussions of Christianity and American democracy. It considers Murray's project in conversation with the work of Jean Bethke Elshtain and Cornel West, two contemporary theorists who aim to inform democratic theory with Christian theological imagination and commitments.Less
This chapter concludes that Pauli Murray's critical attentions to identity, history, and her articulation of a democratic eschatology provide readers with resources for contemporary discussions of Christianity and American democracy. It considers Murray's project in conversation with the work of Jean Bethke Elshtain and Cornel West, two contemporary theorists who aim to inform democratic theory with Christian theological imagination and commitments.
Gary Dorrien
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300205619
- eISBN:
- 9780300231359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300205619.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
King’s radicalism was hard to see or remember after he was assassinated and a campaign for a King Holiday transpired. It became hard to remember that he was the most hated person in America during ...
More
King’s radicalism was hard to see or remember after he was assassinated and a campaign for a King Holiday transpired. It became hard to remember that he was the most hated person in America during his lifetime. The black social gospel became more institutional and conventionally political after the King era; liberation theology grew out of the Black Power movement; and womanist theology grew out of black theology.Less
King’s radicalism was hard to see or remember after he was assassinated and a campaign for a King Holiday transpired. It became hard to remember that he was the most hated person in America during his lifetime. The black social gospel became more institutional and conventionally political after the King era; liberation theology grew out of the Black Power movement; and womanist theology grew out of black theology.
Sarah Azaransky
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199744817
- eISBN:
- 9780199897308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744817.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This introductory chapter sets out the main purposes of the book. It traces the development of Pauli Murray's democratic and theological criticism from the 1930s to the 1980s. Ranging from Murray's ...
More
This introductory chapter sets out the main purposes of the book. It traces the development of Pauli Murray's democratic and theological criticism from the 1930s to the 1980s. Ranging from Murray's theologically rich democratic criticism of the 1930s to her democratically inflected sermons of the 1980s, this study proclaims Murray to be a significant 20th-century African American intellectual who grounded her calls for democratic transformation in Christian concepts of reconciliation and of the coming kingdom. While investigating her remarkable career and contributions to major political, social, and theological debates of her time, this book demonstrates how Murray articulated a theologically grounded democratic criticism that employs theological norms to interrogate democratic practices and democratic norms to interrogate religious practices. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the main purposes of the book. It traces the development of Pauli Murray's democratic and theological criticism from the 1930s to the 1980s. Ranging from Murray's theologically rich democratic criticism of the 1930s to her democratically inflected sermons of the 1980s, this study proclaims Murray to be a significant 20th-century African American intellectual who grounded her calls for democratic transformation in Christian concepts of reconciliation and of the coming kingdom. While investigating her remarkable career and contributions to major political, social, and theological debates of her time, this book demonstrates how Murray articulated a theologically grounded democratic criticism that employs theological norms to interrogate democratic practices and democratic norms to interrogate religious practices. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Brittney C. Cooper
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252040993
- eISBN:
- 9780252099540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040993.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
Pauli Murray was one of the young activists that Mary Church Terrell mentored. In the 1940s, Murray enrolled at Howard University Law School and went on to graduate as the only woman and top student ...
More
Pauli Murray was one of the young activists that Mary Church Terrell mentored. In the 1940s, Murray enrolled at Howard University Law School and went on to graduate as the only woman and top student in her class. In the 1930s, the convergence of several important Black male intellectuals at Howard University, including Abram Harris, E. Franklin Frazier, and Ralph Bunche, had cemented a new formal model of the academically trained Black male public intellectual. When Murray enrolled in the 1940s, she experienced great sexism from these Black male intellectuals. She termed their treatment of her, “Jane Crow.” While she went on to have a storied career as a legal expert, Episcopal priest, poet, and writer, all of which place her firmly in the tradition of the race woman, her identity as both a woman and queer person in the 1940s and 1950s collided with the Howard model of public intellectual work. This chapter brings together Murray’s time and training at Howard, her archives, and an examination of her two autobiographies to suggest that her concept of Jane Crow grew out of the collision of race-based sexual politics and limited ideas among Black men about who could provide intellectual leadership for Black people. Moreover, Jane Crow exposed the heterosexist proclivities of Black public leadership traditions, and offers a framework for thinking about how Black women negotiated gender and sexual politics even as they devoted their lives to theorizing new strategies for racial uplift.Less
Pauli Murray was one of the young activists that Mary Church Terrell mentored. In the 1940s, Murray enrolled at Howard University Law School and went on to graduate as the only woman and top student in her class. In the 1930s, the convergence of several important Black male intellectuals at Howard University, including Abram Harris, E. Franklin Frazier, and Ralph Bunche, had cemented a new formal model of the academically trained Black male public intellectual. When Murray enrolled in the 1940s, she experienced great sexism from these Black male intellectuals. She termed their treatment of her, “Jane Crow.” While she went on to have a storied career as a legal expert, Episcopal priest, poet, and writer, all of which place her firmly in the tradition of the race woman, her identity as both a woman and queer person in the 1940s and 1950s collided with the Howard model of public intellectual work. This chapter brings together Murray’s time and training at Howard, her archives, and an examination of her two autobiographies to suggest that her concept of Jane Crow grew out of the collision of race-based sexual politics and limited ideas among Black men about who could provide intellectual leadership for Black people. Moreover, Jane Crow exposed the heterosexist proclivities of Black public leadership traditions, and offers a framework for thinking about how Black women negotiated gender and sexual politics even as they devoted their lives to theorizing new strategies for racial uplift.
Anne Firor Scott (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807830550
- eISBN:
- 9781469605425
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807876732_scott
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
In 1942 Pauli Murray, a young black woman from North Carolina studying law at Howard University, visited a constitutional law class taught by Caroline Ware, one of the nation's leading historians. A ...
More
In 1942 Pauli Murray, a young black woman from North Carolina studying law at Howard University, visited a constitutional law class taught by Caroline Ware, one of the nation's leading historians. A friendship and a correspondence began, lasting until Murray's death in 1985. Ware, a Boston Brahmin born in 1899, was a scholar, a leading consumer advocate, and a political activist. Murray, born in 1910 and raised in North Carolina, with few resources except her intelligence and determination, graduated from college at 16 and made her way to law school, where she organized student sit-ins to protest segregation. She pulled her friend Ware into this early civil rights activism. Their forty-year correspondence ranged widely over issues of race, politics, international affairs, and—for a difficult period in the 1950s—Mc-Carthyism. In time, Murray became a labor lawyer, a university professor, and the first black woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. Ware continued her work as a social historian and consumer advocate while pursuing an international career as a community development specialist. Their letters, products of high intelligence and a gift for writing, offer revealing portraits of their authors as well as the workings of an unusual female friendship. They also provide a wonderful channel into the social and political thought of the times, particularly regarding civil rights and women's rights.Less
In 1942 Pauli Murray, a young black woman from North Carolina studying law at Howard University, visited a constitutional law class taught by Caroline Ware, one of the nation's leading historians. A friendship and a correspondence began, lasting until Murray's death in 1985. Ware, a Boston Brahmin born in 1899, was a scholar, a leading consumer advocate, and a political activist. Murray, born in 1910 and raised in North Carolina, with few resources except her intelligence and determination, graduated from college at 16 and made her way to law school, where she organized student sit-ins to protest segregation. She pulled her friend Ware into this early civil rights activism. Their forty-year correspondence ranged widely over issues of race, politics, international affairs, and—for a difficult period in the 1950s—Mc-Carthyism. In time, Murray became a labor lawyer, a university professor, and the first black woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. Ware continued her work as a social historian and consumer advocate while pursuing an international career as a community development specialist. Their letters, products of high intelligence and a gift for writing, offer revealing portraits of their authors as well as the workings of an unusual female friendship. They also provide a wonderful channel into the social and political thought of the times, particularly regarding civil rights and women's rights.
Anne Firor Scott
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807830550
- eISBN:
- 9781469605425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807876732_scott.4
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter discusses the lives of two remarkable women who shared a good many characteristics in spite of their great difference in early experience and in style. It explains that Lina Ware came ...
More
This chapter discusses the lives of two remarkable women who shared a good many characteristics in spite of their great difference in early experience and in style. It explains that Lina Ware came from a family of New England Unitarians with a long tradition of social concern as well as attachment to Harvard University. On the other hand, Pauli Murray's heritage was a mix of black and white; she was a child of a nurse and a public school teacher, and was adopted by the schoolteacher aunt for whom she was named. Caroline Farrar Ware, white, born in 1899, raised in Massachusetts, and Pauli Murray, black, born in 1910, raised in segregated North Carolina, developed a most unusual friendship and threw light on some of the major issues of the middle decades of the twentieth century, particularly those touching on questions of racial discrimination and civil rights.Less
This chapter discusses the lives of two remarkable women who shared a good many characteristics in spite of their great difference in early experience and in style. It explains that Lina Ware came from a family of New England Unitarians with a long tradition of social concern as well as attachment to Harvard University. On the other hand, Pauli Murray's heritage was a mix of black and white; she was a child of a nurse and a public school teacher, and was adopted by the schoolteacher aunt for whom she was named. Caroline Farrar Ware, white, born in 1899, raised in Massachusetts, and Pauli Murray, black, born in 1910, raised in segregated North Carolina, developed a most unusual friendship and threw light on some of the major issues of the middle decades of the twentieth century, particularly those touching on questions of racial discrimination and civil rights.
Sarah Azaransky
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190630720
- eISBN:
- 9780190630751
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190630720.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Azaransky analyzes the political activism of lawyer, author, and advocate for civil rights and women’s rights Pauli Murray. Azaransky mines her sermons, journals, lectures, published writings, and ...
More
Azaransky analyzes the political activism of lawyer, author, and advocate for civil rights and women’s rights Pauli Murray. Azaransky mines her sermons, journals, lectures, published writings, and ecclesial leadership as sources of, and indeed model examples of, deep, disciplined, engaged reflection on God and God’s relation to the world. Azaransky demonstrates how lived theology’s singular commitments prompt a series of pressing theological, historiographical, and methodological questions. These include, what counts as theological reflection? Can activism and organizing for social justice be appropriated as theological material? And what kind of a hermeneutic do we need to accurately read practices as theological texts?Less
Azaransky analyzes the political activism of lawyer, author, and advocate for civil rights and women’s rights Pauli Murray. Azaransky mines her sermons, journals, lectures, published writings, and ecclesial leadership as sources of, and indeed model examples of, deep, disciplined, engaged reflection on God and God’s relation to the world. Azaransky demonstrates how lived theology’s singular commitments prompt a series of pressing theological, historiographical, and methodological questions. These include, what counts as theological reflection? Can activism and organizing for social justice be appropriated as theological material? And what kind of a hermeneutic do we need to accurately read practices as theological texts?
Anne Firor Scott
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807830550
- eISBN:
- 9781469605425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807876732_scott.9
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter describes Pauli Murray's teaching job in the newly independent nation of Ghana at the new University of Ghana Law School, and tells of Murray's traumatic experiences in Ghana, where she ...
More
This chapter describes Pauli Murray's teaching job in the newly independent nation of Ghana at the new University of Ghana Law School, and tells of Murray's traumatic experiences in Ghana, where she almost felt homesick: the tropics were bad for her collection of health problems, and she suffered from culture shock. It notes that after the initial adjustment, Murray worked hard at teaching and at learning about Ghana, but was always at the edge of depression.Less
This chapter describes Pauli Murray's teaching job in the newly independent nation of Ghana at the new University of Ghana Law School, and tells of Murray's traumatic experiences in Ghana, where she almost felt homesick: the tropics were bad for her collection of health problems, and she suffered from culture shock. It notes that after the initial adjustment, Murray worked hard at teaching and at learning about Ghana, but was always at the edge of depression.
Anne Firor Scott
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807830550
- eISBN:
- 9781469605425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807876732_scott.5
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter details the friendship and correspondence between Pauli Murray and Lina Ware, which started when the country was at war in 1942 under President Roosevelt. It notes that their friendship ...
More
This chapter details the friendship and correspondence between Pauli Murray and Lina Ware, which started when the country was at war in 1942 under President Roosevelt. It notes that their friendship began as something of a teacher–student relationship until they became well acquainted. The chapter points out that Murray drew Ware into the student protest movement she had helped to organize, seeking to end segregation in Washington, D.C., while Ware served on the National Defense Advisory Commission, wrote The Consumer Goes to War, worked in her garden, and taught history to soldiers-in-the-making. It also notes that Murray, whose focus was on the struggle for human rights, was engaged in active protest and in the study of law, while Ware, like most professional women of her generation, was deeply involved in the work of several volunteer associations; The American Association of University Women was her longest-running volunteer base.Less
This chapter details the friendship and correspondence between Pauli Murray and Lina Ware, which started when the country was at war in 1942 under President Roosevelt. It notes that their friendship began as something of a teacher–student relationship until they became well acquainted. The chapter points out that Murray drew Ware into the student protest movement she had helped to organize, seeking to end segregation in Washington, D.C., while Ware served on the National Defense Advisory Commission, wrote The Consumer Goes to War, worked in her garden, and taught history to soldiers-in-the-making. It also notes that Murray, whose focus was on the struggle for human rights, was engaged in active protest and in the study of law, while Ware, like most professional women of her generation, was deeply involved in the work of several volunteer associations; The American Association of University Women was her longest-running volunteer base.
Sarah Azaransky
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190262204
- eISBN:
- 9780190262235
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190262204.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Bayard Rustin, James Farmer, and Pauli Murray developed a black Christian pacifism inspired by Gandhian nonviolence. Their activist projects in the 1940s, including sit-ins, freedom rides, and ...
More
Bayard Rustin, James Farmer, and Pauli Murray developed a black Christian pacifism inspired by Gandhian nonviolence. Their activist projects in the 1940s, including sit-ins, freedom rides, and multicity marches, became mainstays of the later civil rights movement. While working with majority-white organizations like the Fellowship of Reconciliation and interracial organizations like the Congress of Racial Equality, Murray, Rustin, and Farmer nevertheless developed what Farmer called “the race logic of pacifism,” the idea that black Americans had a particular aptitude for nonviolent direct action because of their experiences of white racism. In the midst of a majority-white Christian peace movement, these three black activists devised a religious pacifism that was also distinctly black. Their early activism illuminates, furthermore, questions about the role of gender and sexuality in the black freedom movement.Less
Bayard Rustin, James Farmer, and Pauli Murray developed a black Christian pacifism inspired by Gandhian nonviolence. Their activist projects in the 1940s, including sit-ins, freedom rides, and multicity marches, became mainstays of the later civil rights movement. While working with majority-white organizations like the Fellowship of Reconciliation and interracial organizations like the Congress of Racial Equality, Murray, Rustin, and Farmer nevertheless developed what Farmer called “the race logic of pacifism,” the idea that black Americans had a particular aptitude for nonviolent direct action because of their experiences of white racism. In the midst of a majority-white Christian peace movement, these three black activists devised a religious pacifism that was also distinctly black. Their early activism illuminates, furthermore, questions about the role of gender and sexuality in the black freedom movement.
Brittney C. Cooper
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252040993
- eISBN:
- 9780252099540
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040993.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
In the late nineteenth century, a group of publicly active African American women emerged from the social and educational elite to assume racial leadership roles. Their work challenged thinking on ...
More
In the late nineteenth century, a group of publicly active African American women emerged from the social and educational elite to assume racial leadership roles. Their work challenged thinking on racial issues as well as questions about gender, sexuality, and class.
Beyond Respectability charts the development of African American women as public intellectuals and the evolution of their thought from the end of the 1800s through the Black Power era of the 1970s. Eschewing the Great Race Man paradigm so prominent in contemporary discourse, Brittney C. Cooper looks at the far-reaching intellectual achievements of female thinkers and activists like Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Church Terrell, Fannie Barrier Williams, Pauli Murray, and Toni Cade Bambara. Cooper delves into the processes that transformed these women and others into racial leadership figures, including long-overdue discussions of their theoretical output and personal experiences. As Cooper shows, their body of work critically reshaped our understandings of race and gender discourse. It also confronted entrenched ideas of how--and who--produced racial knowledge.Less
In the late nineteenth century, a group of publicly active African American women emerged from the social and educational elite to assume racial leadership roles. Their work challenged thinking on racial issues as well as questions about gender, sexuality, and class.
Beyond Respectability charts the development of African American women as public intellectuals and the evolution of their thought from the end of the 1800s through the Black Power era of the 1970s. Eschewing the Great Race Man paradigm so prominent in contemporary discourse, Brittney C. Cooper looks at the far-reaching intellectual achievements of female thinkers and activists like Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Church Terrell, Fannie Barrier Williams, Pauli Murray, and Toni Cade Bambara. Cooper delves into the processes that transformed these women and others into racial leadership figures, including long-overdue discussions of their theoretical output and personal experiences. As Cooper shows, their body of work critically reshaped our understandings of race and gender discourse. It also confronted entrenched ideas of how--and who--produced racial knowledge.
Brittney C. Cooper
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252040993
- eISBN:
- 9780252099540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040993.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
What does it mean and what has it meant to be a Black female intellectual? What does it mean to be a race woman? When and where are the sites of race women’s becoming? Brittney Cooper argues that to ...
More
What does it mean and what has it meant to be a Black female intellectual? What does it mean to be a race woman? When and where are the sites of race women’s becoming? Brittney Cooper argues that to arrive at an answer to the first question, we must diligently interrogate and examine the latter questions. Race women were the first Black women intellectuals. As they entered into public racial leadership roles beyond the church in the decades after Reconstruction, they explicitly fashioned for themselves a public duty to serve their people through diligent and careful intellectual work and attention to “proving the intellectual character” of the race. Pauline Hopkins declared two key tasks attached to the work of the “true race-woman.” They were “to study” and “to discuss” “all phases of the race question.” Not only were these women institution builders and activists; they declared themselves public thinkers on race questions. Though Hopkins and her colleagues were part of a critical mass of public Black women thinkers in the 1890s, they joined a longer list of Black women who had been at the forefront of debates over “the woman question” and the role of Black women in public life throughout the 1800s.Less
What does it mean and what has it meant to be a Black female intellectual? What does it mean to be a race woman? When and where are the sites of race women’s becoming? Brittney Cooper argues that to arrive at an answer to the first question, we must diligently interrogate and examine the latter questions. Race women were the first Black women intellectuals. As they entered into public racial leadership roles beyond the church in the decades after Reconstruction, they explicitly fashioned for themselves a public duty to serve their people through diligent and careful intellectual work and attention to “proving the intellectual character” of the race. Pauline Hopkins declared two key tasks attached to the work of the “true race-woman.” They were “to study” and “to discuss” “all phases of the race question.” Not only were these women institution builders and activists; they declared themselves public thinkers on race questions. Though Hopkins and her colleagues were part of a critical mass of public Black women thinkers in the 1890s, they joined a longer list of Black women who had been at the forefront of debates over “the woman question” and the role of Black women in public life throughout the 1800s.
Jerry Gershenhorn
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469638768
- eISBN:
- 9781469638775
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638768.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
In 1927, Austin purchased the Carolina Times and transformed the newspaper in to a vital part of the black freedom struggle in North Carolina. He prioritized printing the truth and giving a voice to ...
More
In 1927, Austin purchased the Carolina Times and transformed the newspaper in to a vital part of the black freedom struggle in North Carolina. He prioritized printing the truth and giving a voice to the black community in Durham and throughout the state. He never focused on the newspaper as a moneymaking enterprise, as he attacked any one, who, he believed, stood in the way of freedom and equality for all people. As a result, black and white businesses often withdrew advertisements from the paper, leaving the paper in precarious financial condition. In 1933, Austin helped bring the Hocutt case, the first legal attempt to integrate southern higher public education. He also co-founded the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs in 1935, which sought to increase black political participation and improve black life in Durham. Austin was elected justice of the peace in 1934, a victory that was hailed by the Pittsburgh Courier as the beginning of the New Deal in the South. He helped expand black voter registration and moved blacks from the Republican to the Democratic Party, a strategic move to increase black political influence in the one-party state.Less
In 1927, Austin purchased the Carolina Times and transformed the newspaper in to a vital part of the black freedom struggle in North Carolina. He prioritized printing the truth and giving a voice to the black community in Durham and throughout the state. He never focused on the newspaper as a moneymaking enterprise, as he attacked any one, who, he believed, stood in the way of freedom and equality for all people. As a result, black and white businesses often withdrew advertisements from the paper, leaving the paper in precarious financial condition. In 1933, Austin helped bring the Hocutt case, the first legal attempt to integrate southern higher public education. He also co-founded the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs in 1935, which sought to increase black political participation and improve black life in Durham. Austin was elected justice of the peace in 1934, a victory that was hailed by the Pittsburgh Courier as the beginning of the New Deal in the South. He helped expand black voter registration and moved blacks from the Republican to the Democratic Party, a strategic move to increase black political influence in the one-party state.
Kenneth Joel Zogry
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469608297
- eISBN:
- 9781469608303
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469608297.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter chronicles the student newspaper’s evolution to an on-campus daily publication in the 1920s, and how it rapidly professionalized and became both a critical laboratory for aspiring ...
More
This chapter chronicles the student newspaper’s evolution to an on-campus daily publication in the 1920s, and how it rapidly professionalized and became both a critical laboratory for aspiring journalists, and helped to push for the creation of a school of journalism at UNC. The chapter also discusses causes the paper fought for or against, including defeat of the 1925 anti-evolution teaching bill in the state legislature, promotion of labor unions and rights in North Carolina’s mills and factories, and freedom for the students to have speakers on campus of all political persuasions. The chapter examines the universities growing reputation as a liberal institution, both in the classical sense and politically, and the beginnings of state politicians and media to question these issues, most notably David Clark. The first attempt to racially integrate the school, by Pauli Murray, is examined. Other topics covered include the Great Depression, the major university cheating scandal of 1936, the burning of all issues of a campus humor magazine considered indecent in 1939, and the anti-war sentiment at UNC, 1939-1941.Less
This chapter chronicles the student newspaper’s evolution to an on-campus daily publication in the 1920s, and how it rapidly professionalized and became both a critical laboratory for aspiring journalists, and helped to push for the creation of a school of journalism at UNC. The chapter also discusses causes the paper fought for or against, including defeat of the 1925 anti-evolution teaching bill in the state legislature, promotion of labor unions and rights in North Carolina’s mills and factories, and freedom for the students to have speakers on campus of all political persuasions. The chapter examines the universities growing reputation as a liberal institution, both in the classical sense and politically, and the beginnings of state politicians and media to question these issues, most notably David Clark. The first attempt to racially integrate the school, by Pauli Murray, is examined. Other topics covered include the Great Depression, the major university cheating scandal of 1936, the burning of all issues of a campus humor magazine considered indecent in 1939, and the anti-war sentiment at UNC, 1939-1941.
Nick Bromell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199973439
- eISBN:
- 9780199367771
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199973439.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter discusses the expressions of faith in the works of several black American writers and thinkers. These figures—Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper, Pauli Murray, James ...
More
This chapter discusses the expressions of faith in the works of several black American writers and thinkers. These figures—Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper, Pauli Murray, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X—practiced a faith that strove toward the infinite while also respecting the pluralism inherent in individual experience and contingent historical conditions. Instead of imagining the transcendent and the worldly as either separated by an infinite expanse of empty time and space, or as one and the same thing, they saw them as always running parallel to each other and sometimes converging in a moment of action in the here and now.Less
This chapter discusses the expressions of faith in the works of several black American writers and thinkers. These figures—Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper, Pauli Murray, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X—practiced a faith that strove toward the infinite while also respecting the pluralism inherent in individual experience and contingent historical conditions. Instead of imagining the transcendent and the worldly as either separated by an infinite expanse of empty time and space, or as one and the same thing, they saw them as always running parallel to each other and sometimes converging in a moment of action in the here and now.