The Memos On Women During The Civil Rights Movement Essay

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968), women played a big part in not only keeping the crusade alive, but also played a big part in energizing the masses to continue the long and arduous struggle against the seemingly impenetrable institutions of power which disenfranchised African-Americans and regarded their humanity as nothing more than mere pieces of property owned by others. Women like Coretta Scott King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, Septima Clark and countless mothers, sisters, and daughters proved to be important

Women have been active since the beginning of the early 1800’s and struggle until today’s day, to fight for equality. There were two women movement waves. The first wave was focused on the equality of the women by working on voting rights. The second wave from 1963 to 1982 concentrated on social issues. As in “Collective Action for Social Change”, Aaron Schutz and Marie Sandy stated in their book “women were tired of being second class citizens”. The civil rights movement spillover inspired women to create social movements by acting and building organizations focused on the issues that affected the women. The social issues were child care, domestic violence, contraception, and women’s health. One of the major topics that the feminists focused on was domestic violence that still exists in today’s day worldwide.

Females across the nation started speaking out against gender inequality. Discrimination in areas such as the workplace, marriage, and government had become overwhelmingly obvious and women started fighting back (Banks 207). This uprising coincided with the Civil Rights Movement. During the same time, African-Americans were standing up against segregation and for racial equality. These two movements went hand-in-hand, as they both had similar motives. Both women and blacks were fighting against oppression in their own country, and they benefitted from each other’s successes. But it wasn’t strictly these two minority groups standing up for themselves during this time, as Mexicans and Native Americans joined the cause too. They also spoke out against inequality by hosting similar protests and demonstrations as the black and women’s rallies. This showed how the 1960’s were a popular time for minority groups to take a stand and make their voices heard, and women were only one of the many groups of people who rallied for change during that time.

The idea of peacekeeping and the maintaining of order began centuries ago. However, long ago women were not involved in this. As women did enter within 20th century their role was limited. As time passes, change takes place.

July 13, 1848 marked the beginning of a movement that would shape the beliefs and rights of today’s society. It was on this day that the fight for social and political equality among America’s women began to develop. This renowned movement, the Women’s Rights Movement, had many goals in which mighty-powerful women would achieve with a mind-set to push them through any barrier or obstacle obstructing their path to equality. Lasting until 1920, the Women’s Rights Movement had a target towards changing how women were treated and looked upon within their “stereotypical” societies. Women advocated their rights through organizations and campaigns, as well as educating others of the unfair justice. With the help of the Women 's Rights Movement and the brave, fearless women who supported this reformation, the fight for women 's liberation was on the move towards success. This historic

The path for women was very clear-cut about how they were all awaited to live their lives in society. Women’s organizations worked to gain the right to vote as well as have a voice in political, economic, and social reforms. The number of employed women in the United States experienced

Wether it was recruitment, mobilization, or obtaining and securing resources, African American women were the backbone and the unsung heros of these movements. “Given the context of the times, the period 1954-65, women who participated in the civil rights movement experienced unprecedented power” (Robnett 1996).

The book, Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice, was published by the South End Press and written by Marlene Gerber Fried, Loretta Ross, and Elena Gutierrez. Ultimately, due to the lack of inclusivity and representation during the mainstream reproductive movement in the 20th century, this book highlights the bravery and activism done by women of color and their grassroots organizations in order to combat racism and stereotypes as well as to broaden and redefine the meaning of reproductive rights and reproductive justice, so as to ensure that all women, not just middle class white women, had their voices heard and addressed. With a thorough look at the various grassroots organizations as well as the various women of color behind them, I believe this book does an exceptional job at not only analyzing the historical contexts, but also analyzing the grassroots

During the Civil Rights Movement it was important for African-American organizations not to demonstrate the same separatist philosophy that they were fighting against. However, the newer members of the SNCC believed that having White civil rights workers within the organization devalued the cause. The newer members believed that the White civil rights workers lacked an understanding behind the history of the cause, and was protesting for different reasons. During this time, White women in particular appeared to more naive about the danger of segregation, especially for the African-American men. The majority of the White women who came from the North during the Summer to help support the cause endangered the lives of many African-American

"Even though the faces...of the civil rights movement were men, the reality that we knew, even then, was that it was women. And now, of course, there are books and writings that tell us about the role of women...my mother was one of those women"(Henderson Daniel, 2010). Inspired by many black women around her as she grew up during the civil rights era, Jessica Henderson Daniel pushed her desire to make change for the very women she looked up to. Jessica Henderson Daniel was born to a military family in San Diego, Texas (MacKay, 2010). The education she received as an undergraduate at a historically black college university in North Carolina fostered her passion to make change amongst her own people. During the time of her undergraduate education, this was the height of organized and unorganized

On the domestic scene, the Civil Rights Movement was generating a climate of demonstration and demanding human rights and different roles in culture for people of color. Womenfolk played important parts in groups struggling for civil rights such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); nevertheless, they often found that those organizations, enlightened as they might be about racial issues or the war in Vietnam, could still be influenced by patriarchal philosophies of masculine dominance. Members of SNCC presented some of their concerns about their organization’s handling of women in a document entitled “On the Position of Women in SNCC. ” Voting privileges discrimination stayed prevalent in the South through the 1950s. Just as the Activist Movement made nineteenth-century women more cognizant of their absence of influence and encouraged them to form the first women’s rights movement, the protest movements of the 1960s motivated countless white and conventional women to make their own organized crusade for better civil

Society continues to nurture these depriving situations and demonstrate lack of concern towards black women by not celebrating them for the roles they played in the movements. Taylor (1998) asserted that, “despite the fact that the most celebrated leaders of the modern civil rights movements were men, African American women participated at every stage in the struggle for justice and equality” (239). Although black women were not in public eyes during these movements, it was their vision and organizing roles they played that helped in the progression of many liberation movements.

The women’s movement began in the nineteenth century when groups of women began to speak out against the feeling of separation, inequality, and limits that seemed to be placed on women because of their sex (Debois 18). By combining two aspects of the past, ante-bellum reform politics and the anti-slavery movement, women were able to gain knowledge of leadership on how to deal with the Women’s Right Movement and with this knowledge led the way to transform women’s social standing (Dubois 23). Similarly, the movement that made the largest impact on American societies of the 1960’s and 1970’s was the Civil Right Movement, which in turn affected the women’s movement (Freeman 513). According to

The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's was arguably one of the most formative and influential periods in American history. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists utilized non violent resistance and civil disobedience to revolt against racial segregation and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement began in the southern states but quickly rose to national prominence. It is of popular belief that the civil rights movement was organized by small groups of people, with notable leaders like—Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and even John F. Kennedy—driving the ship. That is partly correct. The Civil Rights Movement, in its truest form, was hundreds of thousands of people organizing events and protests,

Throughout the years, minority groups have fought for rights and equal treatment. Some of those have impacted history. Women’s rights as well as the Civil rights movements have impacted history and society as a whole. Colored people are no longer suffering of racism. And women have gotten more rights, just like men. Even after all those years have passed, 1969-2000, new groups arise and are fighting for their own rights and equality. It shows how society keeps changing and the impact it had from the past. Lately, is the gays and lesbians one of the most present and fighting groups. Currently impacting and changing society, having some groups with it and others against them. The LBGT social movement has been going on for