How Long? How Long? African American Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights

by Robnett, Belinda

• ISBN13: 9780195114904
• ISBN10: 0195114906
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-08-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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 ofhigher-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 cultureas 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 andblackness 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 fordifferent 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 perenniallyfascinating story of the American Civil Rights movement.

Author Biography

Belinda Robnett is Associate Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at the University of California at Davis.

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(9)
Rethinking Social Movement Theory: Race, Class, Gender, and Culture	12	(41)
Social Location and Identity	15	(2)
Reconceptualizing Leadership	17	(2)
Defining Bridge Leadership	19	(4)
The Movement Sector: Centralized Power, Primary and Secondary Formal Organizations, and Bridge Organizations	23	(3)
Social Movement Theories	26	(6)
Bridge Leaders, Formal Leaders, and the State	26	(2)
Charismatic Leadership and Emotion	28	(4)
Social Movement Literature: Emotion and Spontaneity	32	(2)
Conclusion	34	(2)
Exclusion, Empowerment, and Partnership: Race Gender Relations	36	(1)
Black Women Activists Speak Out: Empowered, Not Oppressed	36	(5)
Black Women in Support of Male Leadership	41	(3)
A Glimpse into Black Women's Historic Activism	44	(7)
Mary McLeod Bethune and the National Association of Colored Women	45	(1)
Mary McLeod Bethune, the Roosevelt Administration, and A. Philip Randolph	46	(3)
The Rise of Nonviolent Resistance	49	(2)
Conclusion	51	(2)
Women and the Escalation of the Civil Rights Movement	53	(18)
Early Resistance to Segregated Transportation	53	(2)
The Women's Political Council of Montgomery	55	(7)
The Formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association	62	(6)
Conclusion	68	(3)
Sustaining the Momentum of the Movement	71	(15)
Miss Ella Baker and the Origins of the SCLC	71	(5)
The Movement Gains Momentum	76	(7)
Conclusion	83	(3)
Sowing the Seeds of Mass Mobilization	86	(12)
The Roots of Micromobilization	86	(4)
Connecting Prefigurative Politics to Strategic Politics	90	(3)
Bridge Leaders, Gender, and the SCLC	93	(3)
Conclusion	96	(2)
Bridging Students to the Movement	98	(17)
Community Bridge Leaders as Temporary Formal Leaders	103	(4)
Community Bridge Leaders as Secondary Formal Leaders	107	(2)
Women, Power, and Titled Positions	109	(2)
Women Bridge Leaders and Their Heroines	111	(2)
Conclusion	113	(2)
Race, Class, and Culture Matter	115	(25)
Interpersonal Relationships in SNCC	118	(4)
Race, Class, Gender, and Culture in SNCC	122	(11)
Dispelling Sexual Myths	133	(4)
Conclusion	137	(3)
Bringing the Movement Home to Small Cities and Rural Communities	140	(17)
Local Women's Activism Despite Minister Opposition	140	(3)
Indigenous Bridge Leaders: Links Between Community and Organization	143	(7)
Women and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party	150	(3)
Economic and Physical Reprisals	153	(3)
Conclusion	156	(1)
Cooperation and Conflict in the Civil Rights Movement	157	(16)
Women as Primary Formal Leaders	157	(9)
Fannie Lou Hamer and the MFDP	157	(4)
Gloria Richardson and the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee	161	(5)
Women Bridge Leaders and Formal Male Leaders in Conflict	166	(4)
Women, Collective Styles, and the SCLC	166	(1)
Women Bridge Leaders and CORE	167	(3)
Conclusion	170	(3)
The Movement Unravels from the Bottom	173	(17)
Primary Formal Leaders, Compromise, and Disillusionment	173	(5)
The Rise of the Black Power Movement	178	(2)
Women and the Loss of Free Spaces	180	(4)
The Collapse of the Bridging Tier within the Social Movement Sector	184	(5)
Conclusion	189	(1)
Theoretical Conclusions	190	(13)
Black Women as Leaders, Not Just Organizers	190	(2)
Emotion and Spontaneity in Social Movements	192	(1)
Organizational Forms, Mobilizing Structures, and Charismatic Leaders	193	(3)
Political Opportunities and Outcomes	196	(7)
Epilogue Lessons from Our Past	203	(7)
Appendix A The Study	210	(2)
Appendix B Interviews	212	(2)
Appendix C Archives and Primary Sources	214	(2)
Notes	216	(19)
Bibliography	235	(12)
Index	247