How Long How Long African American Women In The Struggle For Civil Rights

A compelling and readable narrative history, How Long? How Long? presents both a rethinking of social movement theory and a controversial thesis: that chroniclers have egregiously neglected the most important leaders of the Civil Rights movement, African-American women, in favor of higher-profile African-American men and white women. Author Belinda Robnett argues that the diversity of experiences of the African-American women organizers has been underemphasized in favor of monolithic treatments of their femaleness and blackness. Drawing heavily on interviews with actual participants in the American Civil Rights movement, this work retells the movement as seen through the eyes and spoken through the voices of African-American women participants. It is the first book to provide an analysis of race, class, gender, and culture as substructures that shaped the organization and outcome of the movement. Robnett examines the differences among women participants in the movement and offers the first cohesive analysis of the gendered relations and interactions among its black activists, thus demonstrating that femaleness and blackness cannot be viewed as sufficient signifiers for movement experience and individual identity. Finally, this book makes a significant contribution to social movement theory by providing a crucial understanding of the continuity and complexity of social movements, clarifying the need for different layers of leadership that come to satisfy different movement needs. An engaging narrative history as well as a major contribution to social movement and feminist theory, How Long? How Long? will appeal to students and scholars of social activism, women's studies, American history, and African-American studies, and to general readers interested in the perennially fascinating story of the American Civil Rights movement.

A compelling and readable narrative history, How Long? How Long? presents both a rethinking of social movement theory and a controversial thesis: that chroniclers have egregiously neglected the most important leaders of the Civil Rights movement, African-American women, in favor of higher-profile African-American men and white women. Author Belinda Robnett argues that the diversity of experiences of the African-American women organizers has been underemphasized in favor of monolithic treatments of their femaleness and blackness. Drawing heavily on interviews with actual participants in the American Civil Rights movement, this work retells the movement as seen through the eyes and spoken through the voices of African-American women participants. It is the first book to provide an analysis of race, class, gender, and culture as substructures that shaped the organization and outcome of the movement. Robnett examines the differences among women participants in the movement and offers the first cohesive analysis of the gendered relations and interactions among its black activists, thus demonstrating that femaleness and blackness cannot be viewed as sufficient signifiers for movement experience and individual identity. Finally, this book makes a significant contribution to social movement theory by providing a crucial understanding of the continuity and complexity of social movements, clarifying the need for different layers of leadership that come to satisfy different movement needs. An engaging narrative history as well as a major contribution to social movement and feminist theory, How Long? How Long? will appeal to students and scholars of social activism, women's studies, American history, and African-American studies, and to general readers interested in the perennially fascinating story of the American Civil Rights movement.

Retelling the story of the civil rights movement from the perspective of its African-American women participants, Robnett argues that chroniclers have egregiously neglected the most important leaders of the movement, African-American women, in favour of higher profile African-American men and white women.

Literature Review from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2, Université Toulouse II - Le Mirail (English Department), course: English Studies: Litearture and Civilization, language: English, abstract: For this study I will pay special attention to chapter two: Exclusion, Empowerment, and Partnership where thanks to many oral testimonies from the women themselves, Robnett explores further the relationships among movement participants and thus, offers a critique of black leadership. Here, she examines the role of women in sustaining the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. She correctly attributes the overall success of the 381-day boycott to the infrastructure provided by middle-class women of the Women's Political Council (WPC). She reaches the conclusion that ‘what is abundantly clear is that African American women activists did not feel oppressed by their gender. Rather, they experienced feelings of empowerment and were inspired to transcend social constrains imposed by racists institutions and cultural forms (Robnett, chapter 2, page 51).’ One of her main arguments is that ‘women’s status was gained through acts of courage, gender divisions, while quite real, were irrelevant to their day to day struggle to survive as a people’(Robnett, ch2, page 40). Through many quotations of testimonies of women who were actually involved in the movement as leaders (ex. Faye Bellamy , Septema Clark , Dorothy Cotton ) Robnett affirms that ‘Women deferred to men was not at issue; the goal was the freedom of Black people and this could be achieved only through a cooperative effort’ (Robnett, ch 2, p.43). The above quote implies that the importance, here is not gender, but freedom. It shows that black people are united and fight for their rights together without posing the question of gender difference. However not once in her work Belinda Robnett talks about the supportive position women had in relation to men in the Montgomery bus boycott. She remind us that ‘Though men became the formal leaders of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, it is clear that without the support of the women bridge leaders and the community, their efforts would have proved fruitless.’( Robnett, p. 65). Moreover, thanks to Johnnie Carr’s memories, Robnett insists on the fact that women ‘took responsibility for the well-being of those who were punished for boycott actions’ (p. 66) and ‘took responsibility for proving lunches’(p.66). Further in Mrs. Thelma Glass’s testimony one notices the repletion of the words ‘ service and support’, ‘give what type of services they could give to keep the movement going’, ‘people have to be fed’, ‘administrative support’.

Tells the stories and documents the contributions of African American women involved in the struggle for racial and gender equality through the civil rights and black power movements in the United States.

Literature Review from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2, Universite Toulouse II - Le Mirail (English Department), course: English Studies: Litearture and Civilization, language: English, abstract: For this study I will pay special attention to chapter two: Exclusion, Empowerment, and Partnership where thanks to many oral testimonies from the women themselves, Robnett explores further the relationships among movement participants and thus, offers a critique of black leadership. Here, she examines the role of women in sustaining the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. She correctly attributes the overall success of the 381-day boycott to the infrastructure provided by middle-class women of the Women's Political Council (WPC). She reaches the conclusion that 'what is abundantly clear is that African American women activists did not feel oppressed by their gender. Rather, they experienced feelings of empowerment and were inspired to transcend social constrains imposed by racists institutions and cultural forms (Robnett, chapter 2, page 51).' One of her main arguments is that 'women's status was gained through acts of courage, gender divisions, while quite real, were irrelevant to their day to day struggle to survive as a people'(Robnett, ch2, page 40). Through many quotations of testimonies of women who were actually involved in the movement as leaders (ex. Faye Bellamy, Septema Clark, Dorothy Cotton ) Robnett affirms that 'Women deferred to men was not at issue; the goal was the freedom of Black people and this could be achieved only through a cooperative effort' (Robnett, ch 2, p.43). The above quote implies that the importance, here is not gender, but freedom. It shows that black people are united and fight for their rights together without posing the question of gender difference. However not once in her work Belinda Robnett talks about the supportive position women had in relation to men in the Montgomery bus boycott. She remind"

Here is the first full-length study to examine the changing academic debate on developments in African American history from the 1890s to the present. It provides a critical historiographical review of the most current thinking and explains how and why research and discourse have evolved in the ways that they have. Individual chapters focus on particular periods in African American history from the spread of racial segregation in the 1890s through to the postwar Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement of the sixties and seventies.