A Brief History of Black Women’s Organizing
Women’s Rights Activist During the Enslavement Period (1800s)
Maria Stewart Miller was an abolitionist, activist, writer, educator. She was born free to African-born parents in Hartford, CT. Stewart was THE first woman to address a crowd of mixed gender and mixed-race about the abolition of slavery. She was also among the first Black women to speak publicly during this time. Politically engaged/conscious. She spoke out and wrote publicly about racial and gender discrimination. Stewart called on all black Americans to develop racial pride, unity, and self-improvement through the expansion of educational and occupational rights. Her writings were featured in the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. Additional writings: Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality and Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart
Organizing against Lynching during Reconstruction (1890s-1900s)
During the period of reconstruction, thousands of Black folks in the US were lynched throughout the Southern states. At the time, the popular understanding of lynchings were that they acted as a response to “criminal acts” done by Black folks to white people. Today, we recognize that lynchings were violent and public acts of torture that traumatized Black folks. Lynchings were used a public gatherings to produce fear in Black Americans and stood as a brutal symbol of the status quo. Much of our current understanding of lynchings is due to the work and research of Ida B. Wells. Following the lynching of a close friend, Wells began to document the murders happening throughout the south. Wells noticed how lynching was not used for “criminality” but as a punishment for Black folks who threatened the white supremacy and the existing power structure. Wells used journalism, media, and archival tools, to outline how lynching was used to get rid of Black folks acquiring wealth and property, as well as folks who were trying to vote, failed to be deferential to white people, and in some cases, in the wrong place at the wrong time. The research performed by Wells shaped our understanding of lynching today and led to campaigns of legal advocacy to abolish the use of lynching. Wells later went on to co-found the NAACP.
Black Woman & the Suffrage Movement (1900s)
In 1920, the 19th Amendment gave women in America the right to vote. This was not inclusive of all women. Black women specifically did not truly have the right to vote until the Civil Rights Act of 1965. There are many Black women who were on the front lines of voting rights and fought for African Americans’ right to vote. Mary Church Terrell was an organizer who worked alongside Ida B. Wells. She co-founded the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 and became the organization’s first president. She boldly called out white leaders of the women’s right movement for excluding the voices of Black women.
Domestic Workers Union (1930s-1940s)
During the economic recessions of the 1930s and 1940s, Black women who worked as domestic workers experienced severe financial hardship. Many families that once had the financial capacity to hire domestic workers experienced changes in income which led to reduced rate or pay, more exploitation, and in some cases firing of domestic workers. This precipitated the emergence of the Bronx Slave Market. Many Black women waited on street corners throughout the Bronx, looking for employers who would hire them for the day. In many cases, workers would receive one dollar for pay or whatever the employer felt was adequate. In response to these horrific conditions of exploitation and racism faced by Black domestic workers, Dora Jones in collaboration with other workers founded the NY based Domestic Workers Union (DWU) in 1934. At the time, DWU had an estimated 1,000 Black members and organized to standardize livable wages, while putting pressure on workers to refuse low rates. DWU was not only supported by Black women who worked as domestic workers, but also Black middle class women who had familial connections to domestic work. These black women supported the organizing done by DWU through the production of intellectual work that positioned domestic work as a site for the liberation of the entire working class.
Civil Rights Movement (1950s-1960s)
Gloria Richardson was a radical Black woman who was crucial to the Civil Rights Movement. As the leader of the Cambridge, Maryland Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC), she worked to improve living conditions of working class Black people in Cambridge Maryland and ensured CNAC prioritized the needs of the community. CNAC’s movement led to the desegregation of all schools, recreational areas, and hospitals in Maryland and the longest period of martial law within the United States since 1877. Many allude to this as the birth of the Black Power movement. Richardson continued to advocate for working class Black people as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) executive board, where she participated in a number of protests and demonstrations against ending segregation.
Black Feminism in the 2nd Wave (1960s)
Gloria Steinem’s second wave of feminism reached its level of popularity because of the Black women who have shaped it. Amongst the unsung heroes is Dorothy Pitman Hughes who was a feminist, women’s rights advocate, and child advocator who focused on race and welfare rights. Pitman Hughes co-founded Ms. Magazine and the Women’s Action Alliance with Steinem. She organized the first shelter for battered women in New York City and co-founded what is now known as the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. Dorothy Pitman Hughes often called out racism within white women’s movements and how Black women faced more harm because of their privilege and reiterated her work as a co-founder of the National Black Feminist Organization. Pitman Hughes was the epitome of a community activist as she created child-care and job-training programs through her NYC community center in the 60s. Her lack of visibility in the movement is rooted in racism and how Black women, especially darker Black women, are often erased from the history they have created.
Black Panther Party (1960s-1980s)
Oftentimes, we hear about the men who were leaders of the BPP. But, there were some powerful women who were active leaders of the Black Panther Party (BPP) as well. Ericka Huggins is a human rights activist, poet, educator, Black Panther Party leader, and a former political prisoner. At the age of 18, Huggins joined the Panthers in 1968, where she served as a leader for over 14 years. She is one of the pioneers of the BPP, lead the Los Angeles chapter, and worked with community members and students at Yale University to build a local chapter in New Haven, CT. Huggins was a writer and editor for the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service. From 1973-1981, she served as the Director of the Oakland Community School, a groundbreaking community-run child development center and elementary school founded by the Black Panther Party. Currently, she is active with the Aids Project of Contra Costa County and assisted with the development of citywide programs that support gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender and, questioning youth and adults who are living with HIV/AIDS.
Black Feminism (1970s)
The Combahee River Collective (CRC) is a Boston based radical Black feminism group that emphasized the need for advocating for all issues from aN intersectional lens (gender, sexual orientation, race, and class). Barbara Smith and her twin sister, Beverly Smith, as well as Demita Frazier, Cheryl Clarke, Akasha Hull, Margo Okazawa-Rey, Chirlane McCray, and Audre Lorde were all lesbian identifying women who understood their oppression was a system of interlocking systems of oppression in which multiple aspects of their identity posed a threat to their freedom. Thus, they coined the term identity politics, which they defined as their unique experiences as Black woman experiencing multiple oppressions. The CRC formed coalitions with other activists to rage war against capitalism and imperialism. They understood that a socialist movement without the inclusion of race and feminism meant nothing to them or their freedom until all aspects of their identities were discussed. These women met at the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) meetings, and realized their ideas were more radical than the NBFO and broke off to create the CRC. Once the newly formed CRC, they created the famous piece of literature known as the Combahee River Collective Statement, which moved to combine Black feminism with socialist policies. There is where they explored the intersections of multiple oppressions, and how it effects daily living, specifically for Black women.
LGBTQ Advocacy & Organizing (1970s-1980s)
When discussing the impact of Black women’s organizing, it is necessary to highlight the contributions from queer and trans organizers. Queer and trans organizers lead much of the work that we do and continue to be marginalized through intersections of gender, sexuality, and race. Many organizations today such as BYP100, Audre Lorde Project, and even BLM use a Black queer feminist lens to address social issues and much of this framing of work started with folks like Marsha P. Johnson. Johnson was an organizer, sex worker, and drag performer who pushed for the Gay Liberation Movement of the 1970s to take into the experiences of trans folks within the LGBTQ movement. The inclusion of trans folks in the LGBTQ movement is attributed to the work of Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. During the 1970s, the Gay Liberation Movement was attempting to normalize same gender loving relationships by appropriating heteronormative principles. In an effort to be perceived as normal, GLM organizers did not want queer and trans folks a part of their movement. Johnson pushed against the organizers, advocating for the inclusion of all queer and trans community members into the movement. In 1970, Johnson along with Sylvia Rivera organized STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries)*, which was a collective that housed and supported young queer and trans folks who experienced street homelessness. STAR took on the work of feeding, clothing, and housing young trans folks who at the time did not have much connection to their families. In addition to leading work around the inclusion of trans folks in gay and lesbian spaces, Johnson’s organizing work addressed the policing of gay, queer, and trans spaces in NYC, and organizing along with ACT UP to advocate for folks impacted by the AIDS epidemic.
Black Women in Hip Hop (1970s – Today)
Hip-hop has always been a cultural staple to the Black community and served as a way of self-expression. Within this melodic form of art, Black women have also utilized this space to protest through their art. Black women who were considered conscious rappers or transformative in the advancement of Black people through their musical message, used their platform to reject heteronormativity and gender roles as a form of protest and organizing. Queen Latifah’s “U.N.I.T.Y” emphasizes the importance of togetherness and community within the Black community and Lauryn Hill’s entire discography voices police brutality and systemic racism. Rapsody’s “The Man” explains the story of growing up as a Black boy to becoming a Black man who gets sucked into the culture of poverty BECAUSE of systemic racism. Roxanne Shante’s “Go on Girl” moves from the genre of women “complaining” to singing her own praises in which she rejects dominant characteristics of women and opposed gender roles. Black women have always been pioneers in any movement and continue to do so in the hip-hop realm.
Mothers of the Movement (2000s – Today)
Mothers of the Movement is comprised of black women who have lost a child or children as a result of state sanctioned violence. These women include Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, Lezley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown, and Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin. Connected through tragedy, these women have organized to to create a dialogue about racism, gun violence and change. In doing so, they’ve created a platform to highlight the injustice they’ve endured and the injustices that continue to plague the black community while also building community to address life after loss, the five stages of grief, and how to move forward after a traumatic event.
Black Lives Matter (2010s – Today)
In 2013, three female Black organizers — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi — coined the term Black Lives Matter, which started as a hashtag on social media, to act as a reassurance to the black community following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the murder of Trayvon Martin back in 2012. #Black Lives Matter has spearheaded demonstrations worldwide protesting police brutality and systematic racism that overwhelmingly effects the Black community. The organization aims to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.
Since 2013, these organizers have stimulated significant change locally and nationally, including publicizing high-profile corrupt prosecutors, pressuring of political leaders to address issues of criminal justice, and working to incite the release of U.S. Department of Justice reports that confirm the presence of police corruption in Baltimore, Chicago, Ferguson, and Cleveland. The Black Lives Matter movement has been noted as the most influential social movements of the post-civil rights era – inspiring others to follow in their footsteps and demand changes vital to the empowerment of marginalized communities.
