Jessica Henderson Daniel Essay

Deborah Gray White graduate from the University of Illinois at Chicago. While at the University, she wrote Ar’n’t I a Woman? as her doctoral dissertation. She also earned B.A. from Harpur College at the State University of New York at Binghamton and her M.A. from Columbia University. She has also written other books with a similar theme. Some are Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans with Documents, Vol.1& 2: Since 1865 and Too Heavy a Load: Black Women in Defense of Themselves, 1894-1994 .

To be a woman meant that one had no say in regards to political affairs or in government making decisions. If being a woman had limitations, imagine what a black woman experienced, as they were considered less than human and mistreated more than any other female from any different background. In “A Plea for the Oppressed”, Lucy Stanton, one such black woman, tried to avail her people’s plight upon an audience of white women, to support the antislavery and reform cause.

Kerber, Linda K., Jane Sherron De Hart, Cornelia Hughes Dayton, and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu. Women's America: Refocusing the Past: Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon, “The Women’s Liberation Movement”. 8th ed. NY, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Today, women and minorities have a wide variety of professions they can pursue; but it was not always that way. Before the Civil Rights Movement, women and minorities, especially black people, were bounded to a stereotypical or subservient role in society without the right to voice their opinions. Some, however, did take a stand to fight for equal rights against all odds. These people were called Civil Rights activists and many became leaders. Among the many famous pioneers such as Martin, Malcolm, and Angela, was a woman of great pride and honor – Shirley Chisholm. Chisholm was a civil rights leader who championed the causes of equal rights and fair treatment for both women and minorities through her determination, community involvement, and

NO the question you should be asking yourself is why the hell have you done nothing to fix this issue, the things that have been happening to others because of many people discriminating them for how they look, for how they talk, for who they choose to be in life. In the 1960s this woman called Katherine Johnson was one of the first African American woman to work for Nasa, she worked as a Mathematician calculating the trajectories for many NASA missions and working with many people in this project which in many cases was hard for her 1. Her being a woman and 2. Her being African American, now these shouldn't be any reasons for her to fail or not be able to do it (right), well in her case it wasn't, it was the fact that many people doubted her, made fun fun of her skin color, and most of all her being equal to a man really made her get laughed at because everyone thought that she can’t do it, how can a woman be with such a high authority and equal with a man working for NASA, although many people did not agree with what she did however, with her working there for 33 years taking all the discrimination words she heard, brought eather to her face or in secret she toughened up and realized no matter how many things they say about me I will keep on going, she later on started proving everyone that she can do it she started solving various complex equations and multiple plans on what types of angles the ships should be held from, what speed to blast

I learned how Ida B. Wells-Barnett started her life. Born as a slave, orphaned at 16, she became a teacher to support her surviving brothers and sisters. With the difficult circumstances brought upon her, it took an amazing amount of determination for her to fight for black civil rights and women’s rights in the 19th century. In a more civilized age, it’s harder to witness the courage she represented for the disadvantaged.

Fannie Lou Hamer, a radical woman, rallied black women to help support the black man in their effort to liberate all people by organizing protest and other public demonstrations. Despite being the youngest of twenty children in a family of sharecroppers, Hamer became one of the most prominent black woman during the Civil Rights Movement. Rather than restricting herself to the house, she sought a platform to ensure that the concerns of black people were heard by mainstream America. Hamer’s candid rhetoric made it difficult for people to ignore her message. In “The Special Plight and Role of Black Women” Hamer states that black women “are organizing [themselves] now, because [they] don’t have any other choice” because of the need to bring justice to America (Hamer 398). It was no longer enough to manage the house while the black man fights for equality; black women have a duty to support the black man to bring liberation to all people. As a result, black women activists made themselves visible whether that was by organizing protests and other public demonstrations, contributing to the intellectual movement through their writing, or obtaining political power through elected seats or negotiating with

Similarly, Patricia Hill’s work “Black Feminist Thought” explains the need for black feminism. For Hill U.S. black feminism is needed in order for black women to survive, cope with, and resist their differential treatment in society. Black feminist thought creates a collective identity among this marginalized group of African-American women. Hill provides several features that make U.S. Black feminist thought different than any other set of feminism. The first feature Hill speaks about is ‘blackness’ it is this concept that makes U.S. black feminist a different group that suffers a “double oppression”. Thus, U.S. Black women collectively participate in a dialectical relationship which links African American women’s oppression and activism. Hill speaks on the U.S. black feminist thought and the dilemma they face in American society. During the women’s right movement there was a tremendous difference between black and white women’s experiences, “while women of color were urged, at every turn, to become permanently infertile, white women enjoying prosperous economic conditions were urged, by the same forces, to reproduce themselves”. It is this difference in attitudes that demonstrate why there is a need to focuses on the linkage of experiences and ideas experienced by the black women in America. Consequently, Davis analyzes the hypocritical differences of the government of the

The names and faces of those considered pioneers in the fight for rights and freedom may not be instantly recognizable, but nevertheless, they are an important part to the history of the United States of America. Throughout the history of our country, there has not just been an injustice towards black slaves, but also towards women, with both being unfairly discriminated against. It was the work of many individuals who brought the unfamiliar taste for rights for all God’s creatures to the mouths of many people. The impact of such people, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass, towards the demand for rights for women and slaves cannot be measured.

The contents of this book is a fascinating study over Jessie Daniel Ames, who was a southern woman who played major roles in several local social movements between the two world wars- as the very first President of the Texas league of woman voters, leader in the Texas Equal Suffrage Association, Director of Woman’s Work for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation in the 1920’s, and following that decade as the head of the association of southern Woman for the prevention of Lynching (ASWPL).

The gender bias found in relation to leadership in the civil rights movement often excludes African-American women’s contributions as being of less importance and prominence; however, in hindsight informal leaders were on equal level with formal leaders and bridge leaders served an important function resulting from exclusion.

As I was staring at this cue card that was written nearly one hundred years ago, I had to take a step back and realize how much this piece of paper had affected my life. Riggs Hunt was a committed feminist and traveled all over West Virginia to spread feminism in hopes that eventually women could have rights. Riggs Hunt was one of the women who fought for me to have education, ability to vote and to have rights over my own body. As I was sitting in the library holding something that was once in her hands, I felt empowered as I was holding a piece of history that had a huge impact on my life and the person that I am today. As I sat there reading this small summary of one of Riggs Hunt’s events, it had showed that she had been a strong advocate for women as she empowered women to follow her movement despite all the rumors that had been set towards feminism and at the same time she was still gender neutral as she allowed men to be involved in her feminist movement.

In her memoir, Anne Moody described her growth in Mississippi and her involvement in the civil rights movement after she entered college. Moody’s description of her life explained the continuous discrimination and hardships black people needed to suffer during the civil right movement. Moody’s decision of becoming an activist was unique and brave, comparing to other blacks who were afraid to fight against inequality, at that time. However, with her deeper involvement in the movements, Moody, unlike other activists who prompted for “dreams,” realized that the movement should actually focus on practical issues, such as poverty and safety. Thus, it raised a question: how did her experiences in childhood and high school influence her different

This sentiment rings true throughout the life lived by Rita Mae Brown. As a child, she witnessed first-hand that inequality was inherent in society, though this understanding was tempered by the efforts of her role models to fight against that inequality. During her college experience, Brown found herself rebelling against the dominant ideologies of both the role of women within society and the acceptability of her sexuality as a lesbian; perhaps this rebellion was fueled by the climate of the civil rights movement, but the end result was that—rather than serving to silence her—the oppressive nature and punishment meted out by those in power worked to reinforce the lesson taught by her family, spurring her toward greater activism. Surprisingly, Brown did not encounter like minds when joining up with the powerful women’s movement, but again found herself subjected to judgements and fear based on her sexuality. Once again unwilling to accept this as the status quo, Brown fought for the rights of lesbians to be included in the feminist movement.

The author that I chose was Margaret Walker. Born July7, 1915 – November 30, 1998. Her name now is Margaret Walker Alexander, her married name. The county that I chose her from was in Bulter County. This is where I’m from and thought it would be interesting to find someone from the same county that I didn’t know about. Margaret Walker spent most of her time in Birmingham, Alabama, then she moved to New Orleans. Walker graduated from college at University of New Orleans, then transferred to Northwestern University. She graduated here with an AB in English in 1935. Margaret Walker was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African American literary movement in Chicago. After acclaimed poet Langston Hughes recognized her talent and urged