`` Witnessing And Testifying : Black Women, Religion, And Civil Rights

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

Every movement with the intent to create change must begin with a foundation of beliefs. These beliefs form the basis of convictions and ideals that those firmly rooted in the movement will act upon. In the 1960's Civil Rights Movement, religion played a major role. We explore these ideas in the March trilogy, written by John Lewis. Church gatherings and meeting places served as important locations for inspiration and refuge. Religious images and leaders, including Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi, set an example the activists aimed to follow. The Social Gospel was pivotal in creating the underlying philosophy of the movement, while Islam may have been a source of tension.

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Ed. By Patricia Hill Collins. (New York: Routledge, 2000. ii, 336 pp. Cloth, $128.28, ISBN 0-415-92483-9. Paper, $26.21, 0-415-92484-7.)

Conceptions of Civil Rights leadership are ostensibly tied to black preachers and respectable community leaders. However, the readings present a deviation from these conceptions and specifically consider the role of students, women, and non-Christians. The late 1950s and early 60s saw heightened black activism and increased visibility of the Civil Rights struggle. Grassroots mass mobilization and a focus on group-centered leadership became prominent facets of the movement, as did militancy and the necessity of violent protest.

The civil rights movement broadened the definition of leadership to include women, and left an impression of women as powerful and determined activists. Jo An Robinson and Ella Baker are just two of the many women who were able to take charge and make an impact on the movement. Robinson led the Women’s Political Council, which plotted strategy for a one-day bus boycott in Montgomery following Rosa Parks’ arrest. The Council was able to recruit clergy to lend their churches for mass meetings and was able to tap into a new minister in town, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead the Montgomery Improvement Association, which would coordinate the larger Montgomery Bus Boycotts . It was the women that organized this key moment in the civil rights movement – which was, in fact, spurred by a woman, Rosa Parks, refusing to take her seat in the back of the bus. Ella Baker was similarly key in the Civil Rights movement. She was instrumental in organizing a conference of student sit-in activists in 1960, forming the beginning of what would become the SNCC. By educating and fostering leadership, Baker helped members to see themselves as potential leaders – regardless of race or gender. That does not mean that leadership in the

Payne (African American studies, Northwestern Univ.) presents an illuminating examination of the Civil Rights movement at the local level, in this case Greenwood, Mississippi, in the 1960s. As Payne deftly grafts Greenwood's struggle onto the larger movement, he challenges several widely accepted conclusions, such as overemphasizing a core cadre of male leaders while overlooking the important contributions of women and youth and the belief that the black church was an early leader in the movement. Much of Payne's information is culled from oral interviews with actual movement from participants.

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 civil rights movement was a success was because of its religious leaders and how they inspired people. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was most influential on the non-violent approach. Dr. King enforced that violence was not going to get anything solved. Anne did not agree with Dr. King on the nonviolent approach because she did not see anything positive coming from it in a timely manner. Little did she know, Dr. King’s nonviolence resistance would be what got noticed? Anne Moody was brought up in the church, and was very active while she was there. Anne lost her faith, after the bombing of the church, which killed four innocent girls. In the book Anne talked about how the older people focused on heaven, while people her age just tried to better themselves. Religious beliefs played an important role in African Americans lives. Although African Americans were going through so many negative things, they never doubted their God. To African Americans church was a place where they were considered “free” despite what society thought. They saw that their skin color did not matter, but that they were all equal in God’s eyes. A few of the religious leaders who helped with the movement were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, and Jesse Jackson. “Religion is the crucial ingredient that kept the movement alive in the face of death, poverty and large scale

Across cultures and throughout history, women have experienced ongoing systemic oppression; and they have responded with progressive movements of protest and creative alternatives. Harriet Tubman in the fight against slavery: Fannie Lou Hamer for voting rights: Ella Baker and Mary White Ovington in the civil rights movement: Rosa Luxemburg in the German socialist movement: Winnie Mandela in the anti-apartheid movement: Puerto Rican independence leader and poet Lolita Lebron: and American Indian movement activists Anna Mae Aquash, Ingrid Washinawatok, and Winona LaDuke (Mink and Navarro). Women have pioneered in movements for labor rights, prison reform, reproductive rights and health, education, affordable housing, affirmative action and equal rights, human rights, and environmental safety. These women’s leadership styles span a range from soft to harsh, from wielding individual, hierarchical power to possessing a commitment to collectivism, and from identifying as “woman as caretaker of life” to woman as requiring and utilizing equal power to man. There is no one characteristic that applies to all women as social change leaders (Hurtado).

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.

In The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice from the Civil Rights Movement to Today, Charles Marsh argues that the driving and sustaining force of the Civil Rights Movement and its successors was the Christian faith of its leaders. Throughout the novel, Marsh continuously shows how the Christian faith inspired and sustained leaders and everyday people; risking their lives, their family, and their job in hopes of the type of future that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached on. The Beloved Community tells both hopeful and discouraging stories within the larger history of social justice. Marsh makes clear that this history is still being written by those who take seriously their discipleship to Jesus. Hope, he claims, is the resounding

Like a common thread intertwining the several heroes of social justice whom I have studied throughout the semester, the devotion to their own respective faith has empowered these individuals to dedicate their lives to the arduous task of representing the oppressed

In history, women have always struggled to gain equality, respect, and the same rights as men. Women had had to endure years of sexism and struggle to get to where we are today. The struggle was even more difficult for women of color because not only were they dealing with issues of sexism, but also racism. Many movements have helped black women during the past centuries to overcome sexism, racism, and adversities that were set against them. History tells us that movements such as the Feminist Movement helped empower all women, but this fact is not totally true. In this paper, I will discuss feminism, the movements, and its "minimal" affects on black women.

Religion played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement in getting good public relations for the activists and as a source of strength for them. Activists were going to be facing many hardships and needed an “emotional dimension” to deal with it, so religion was used to “inspire solidarity and self-sacrificial devotion to their cause.” For many people this emphasis on religion during this time was the primary event while the political and social aspects were more secondary in their mind. Activists often remember the movement as “a life-transforming era touched with divine significance” with many widespread cases of “extraordinary religious experiences” through, what they believed were, miracles. These miracles “played a direct functional role in the political strategy” by being excellent PR for the movement. The protestors “nonviolent, prayerful appearance” had them “playing the role of innocent lambs” which earned them the title of “dignified” in press

In an attempt to define Black Feminism, Collins clarifies that it must “avoid the idealist position that ideas can be evaluated in isolation from the groups that create them (Collins 385).” In reality, this forms her basis for why Black Feminism is necessary, and who it serves. Thinking about feminism historically, the concerns of black women were pushed aside in favor of fighting sexism, most notably during the Suffrage movement. And even when feminism began looking at other social injustices, such as racism and class issues, only prominent feminists were invited to the discussion. What resulted was, and often continues to be, a problem of white women speaking for oppressed people. It’s impossible, Collins argues, to have Black Feminist thought without examining the experiences and positions of African American women. Therefore, Black Feminism must be a movement that “encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality by those who live in it (Collins 386).” However, such a definition brings about many questions: who’s experiences are valued, how do black women take their voice back, and how can they center feminist thinking on their own unique standpoint?