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The role of african american women in the fight for civil rights

This essay example shows how African American women were instrumental in the civil rights struggle, first through leadership at many levels and, secondly, through many other forms of contribution that historians have largely ignored. It also discusses how these women, from organizing through churches and Black women's clubs to leading key events like the 1963 March on Washington, helped shape the whole movement. Figures like Dorothy Height, Septima Poinsette Clark, and Ella Baker are discussed in light of grassroots efforts and an intersectional approach, showing how their activism laid the bedrock for contemporary movements like Black Lives Matter. Ideally, this college essay acknowledges that the contributions the women have made toward racial and gender justice within the broader circle of the Civil Rights Movement are important. It's published by our essay writing service in Chicago format for your review for free.

September 25, 2024

* The sample essays are for browsing purposes only and are not to be submitted as original work to avoid issues with plagiarism.

THE ROLE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

Student’s Name

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African American women have participated consistently in most of the major social

movements in American history. Not just for themselves, but for everyone, they have

consistently learned how to come together and lead in forging a more decent and equitable

society. Still, an examination of the literature reveals the astonishing frequency with which Black

women are overlooked when one talks of their organizing and leadership throughout the duration

of the African American Civil Rights movement.1It is evident that historians have often valued

men more in the apparatus and achievement of it, even as many women have made valuable

contributions at one juncture or another within the Black Freedom Struggle. These stories are,

however, put into question by the reality of the struggle for civil rights. Many African American

women were leaders at the local level, serving in many cases as liaisons between national and

grassroots groups. This paper will look at the roles of African American women in the Civil

Rights Movement highlighting their contributions to the struggle and fight for equality and social

justice.

Long before the modern African American Civil Rights movement, African American

women were active in the struggle for social justice in the US. It is from this bedrock of service

and sacrifice that black women continue to organize today. They first organized through the

church, then through the founding of Black women's clubs, a movement that began in earnest

near the end of the nineteenth century. The founding of the National Council for Negro Women

and other such organizations had laid the ground for the women's leading the current civil rights

1Levins, Ashley. 2019. "Unbowed, Unbroken, and Unsung: The Unrecognized Contributions of

African American Women in Social Movements, Politics, and the Maintenance of Democracy." William

& Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice 25 (1): 631-655.

movement.2The movement inspired a kind of culture in which people, through their actions,

started challenging and questioning the order of things in society. Involvement in the movement

changed the thinking of the homegrown black women of the churches about their role in society.

Black women were also major forces in the civil rights movement, often working behind

the scenes to provide much-needed insight into whether a movement was likely to succeed or

fail. Dorothy Height was one of the women who played an instrumental role in organizing some

of the most pivotal events; for example, the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.3

However, she never reached the same degree of celebrity accorded her male counterparts.

Despite the gender barriers that she had to work through, the leadership that Height was able to

exercise through the National Council for Negro Women and her collaboration with other major

civil rights leaders, including A. Philip Randolph and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were

indispensable in moving events and proposals toward racial justice. Her activism also

encompassed generalized social issues, as was made evident with the confounding of the

National Women's Political Caucus, whereby, in conjunction with other feminists like Betty

Friedan and Shirley Chisholm, she fought to ramp up political participation among women. The

intersectionality between the two struggles for racial and gender justice serves as proof that such

women as Height fought on two fronts, seeking equity from each one.

Similarly, other figures on the forefront included Septima Poinsette Clark and Ella Baker,

who are examples of the deep ways in which women were very active at the grassroots

3Strassmann, Mark. 2020. The microphone at the March on Washington was dominated by men.

But it might never have happened without Dorothy Height. August 28. Accessed September 25, 2024.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dorothy-height-march-on-washington/.

2McCutcheon, Priscilla. 2022. "“When and Where I Enter”: The National Council of Negro

Women, Black Women’s Organizing Power, and the Fight to End Hunger." Annals of the American

Association of Geographers 112 (8): 2486-2500.

level-particularly from an organizational standpoint on the local level. Through her work of

establishing Citizenship Schools, Clark fought against the oppression of African Americans

through literacy and voter registration by melding everyday concerns with larger political

organizations.4Her work, above all within the SCLC, was representative of a set of challenges

for women themselves, namely sexism within the movement. Young activists often referred to

Baker as a "political mother," and with a facilitator style of participatory democracy, she was

more grassroots in sort of leadership than charismatic leadership, which was male-dominated and

broadly spread at that time. These efforts from the women tore down not just racial disparities

but also conventional patterns of gender in the movement and hence established their critical

position in civil rights history.

The legacy of African American women in the civil rights movement remains abundantly

clear today, as modern activism continues to be informed by their historical contributions.

Movements such as Black Lives Matter find their roots in the fundamental work these women

did: centering an explicitly intersectional approach that focuses on how different forms of

oppression interrelate. In fact, the experiences and narratives of African American women lie at

the foundation of our perspective of the Civil Rights Movement, particularly regarding the

continuous struggles against systemic racism and gender discrimination. Only in recent times has

their contribution to the struggle in the realm of civil rights been underlined. In that respect,

scholars and activists alike affirm that it is very important to learn the role of these women in the

discourses on civil rights that at times were not only supportive but leading in their own right.

4Felicien, Bria. 2021. Septima Clark was the teacher of the civil rights movement. February 9.

Accessed September 25, 2024.

https://www.ajc.com/news/septima-clark-was-the-teacher-of-the-civil-rights-movement/CZSM4IT56RC4

FFMMLD7L53YLPA/.

Thus, African American women have been very instrumental in the Civil Rights

Movement, passing through precarious junctions of race and gender, class, and the struggle for

justice and equality. This very often-omitted kind of legacy says a lot about the period in time

when women gave their voice to struggles and issues concerning social justice. Therefore, as

society continues to wrestle with issues of race and gender, it is worth acknowledging the

contributions of African American women in the civil rights movement as part of a broader

struggle for equality and social justice.

Bibliography

Felicien, Bria. 2021. Septima Clark was the teacher of the civil rights movement. February 9.

Accessed September 25, 2024.

https://www.ajc.com/news/septima-clark-was-the-teacher-of-the-civil-rights-movement/C

ZSM4IT56RC4FFMMLD7L53YLPA/.

Levins, Ashley. 2019. "Unbowed, Unbroken, and Unsung: The Unrecognized Contributions of

African American Women in Social Movements, Politics, and the Maintenance of

Democracy." William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice 25 (1):

631-655.

McCutcheon, Priscilla. 2022. "“When and Where I Enter”: The National Council of Negro

Women, Black Women’s Organizing Power, and the Fight to End Hunger." Annals of the

American Association of Geographers 112 (8): 2486-2500.

Strassmann, Mark. 2020. The microphone at the March on Washington was dominated by men.

But it might never have happened without Dorothy Height. August 28. Accessed

September 25, 2024.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dorothy-height-march-on-washington/.

September 25, 2024

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Academic level:

Undergraduate 1-2

Type of paper:

Essay

Discipline:

History

Citation:

Chicago

Pages:

3 (825 words)