Meghan Durst History 498 w/ Dr.

Reagan Final Paper 12/14/2011

Women s Involvement in the Civil Rights Movement: A Look at Local Women

The Civil Rights movement is often thought of a movement that only took place in the South and is marked by the influences of Martin Luther King Jr. and other prominent African Americans at the time. Rosa Parks, a well known Civil Rights icon, seems to be one of the few well known female Civil Rights activists of the time. And while the Civil Rights movement was in full swing the South in the 1950s-1960s, the southern Civil Rights movement fueled other movements in the country such as the movement for civil rights here in central Illinois. While the influence of women in the fight for equal rights did not always make the headlines, women worked behind the scenes to end discrimination all over the country. Men generally dominated the Civil Rights movement and the organizations that advocated for civil rights. Typically in the late 1940s-early 1950s, men possessed roles that kept them in control of politics, the work force and many other professional and social arenas, including the Civil Rights movement. In business and organizations people did not find it unusual to have men at the forefront. As a whole, women held an integral role in the Civil Rights movement, but their function was more of a behind the scenes role. Many well known African American men are remembered and honored from the Civil Rights Movement because they held higher positions in their communities than the women participants. Ministers and
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businessmen held well known positions and authority within their community and therefore received publicity for their efforts. Men s positions in society positioned them for more exposure, than their female counterparts.i While women s roles in the Civil Rights movement were not publicized as much as men s roles, their role held great important because of the many activities they undertook. Women took part in peaceful protests, organization, research, fundraising, teaching, speaking, writing and other behind the scenes work, but very important work, that made the Civil Rights movement successful throughout the country. We can see the role of women in the Civil Rights movement on the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign campus. In Illinois, a state that is characteristically considered to be in the north, African American men and women still experienced segregation even through the 1960s. Certain restaurants refused to serve African Americans. These included the now popular chain Steak n Shake as well as other establishments, including a bar named Bidewell's which would serve African Americans anything, but beer. Limits on campus housing were also in effect at this time for African Americans. Situations like this made it very difficult to be African American in central Illinois. Locals divided over the issues of segregation and integration. Unfortunately, negative attitudes toward African Americans fueled the desire for segregation on the University of Illinois campus. This led to poor treatment of African Americans at certain businesses and unfair hiring practices at other businesses that refused to hire African Americans or only hired African Americans to do janitorial or stock work. In the South, things were a bit more difficult. Jim Crow laws, the late 19th century discrimination laws, maintained segregation of whites and African Americans over many

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generations and these laws remained in full force in most of the south until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Those who failed to follow these laws faced jail time and possibly violence, such as lynchings.ii There were over 500 lynchings that took place in Mississippi in less than 50 years. Everything was separate, water fountains, restrooms, schools, parks and when only one facility was available, separation sections were provided and expected to be maintained by all. These laws were particularly strict in Georgia, where the citizenship of African Americans was even in question. African Americans still faced difficulty voting in the late 1940s in Atlanta and instances like officials erasing African American names off the electoral rolls occurred frequently. iii While the Civil Rights Movement began to propel through the South, we can also see a movement of the same kind taking place on the University of Illinois campus and in ChampaignUrbana throughout the community. The University students over the years are an excellent way to gauge the attitudes and as well as research the background of the treatment of African Americans on campus. One student, Jean Knapp, wrote in the Green Cauldron a University of Illinois student run newspaper, the education of the Negro has been greatly hampered by this racial prejudice in many of the colleges especially those in the South, where there is even no suggestion of equality. There the only college education available to the Negro is in segregated institutions.
iv

Integrated academic institutions made education available to all in Illinois, but in

other areas African American students could not gain admittance many colleges and universities because of their color. While the University of Illinois accepts and had accepted African American students for many years, life in campus was not as inclusive. African American students faced segregation in other areas in the mid 1940s. Jean Knapp reported,

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The Middle West, however, has not made up its mind one way or the other, and the Negro is at a loss to know just what his place is. An illustration of this discord is found here on our own campus. Although the great majority of Illinois students live near the campus, you will not find any Negroes living in this area. Most of them live in private homes in the colored section in North Champaign. Because of the distance from the campus to their homes, it is almost impossible for the students to return to them between classes or for lunch. Out of necessity, the Union Building and one or two drugstores have become their eating places. Such conditions are certainly not up to par with those that most of us take for granted.
v

While African Americans gained educational opportunities at the University of Illinois, University Housing was not available to them when this article was published in 1946. Facing housing and restaurant discrimination posed an immense problem for many African American students at this time. What can a student do if they cannot return home for lunch because of their home s distance from campus, and they can only eat at two or possibly three establishments on campus? What if they only have a short break for lunch and cannot make it to the drugstore or the Union? Another restaurant could be close by, but the likelihood, it would serve African Americans at this time was very low. Certainly conditions needed to improve to establish equality on campus and in the community. Inequality persisted for sometime and African Americans continued to receive subpar resources and whites would remain the more privileged majority.

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The practice of segregation, overt and covert, continued for many years, on campus and in the community. African Americans felt ostracized because the whites did not want to mix with African Americans even in church and so many opted out of church even though many likely preferred to attend services. Jean Knapp further studied the segregated recreation situation at the University of Illinois in her 1946 article and reported that African Americans faced segregation in theaters; they could only sit in the balcony. Crystal Lake pool would not allow African Americans to swim there at all. vi Events like University sponsored parties and socials as well as the orchestra and band were open to all, but through social exclusion African Americans felt unwanted or like outsiders so more often than not they did not attend. As for sports, African American participation in baseball, basketball, tennis nor swimming for a University of Illinois team was not permissible, but they were accepted to play on the football team and run on the track team.
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This is an

interesting situation. Covert segregation comes to play here, where African Americans were made to feel like outsiders even though they were permitted to participate in many activities, but when others made them feel unwelcome because of race, they decided not to participate because of this discrimination and attitude of their peers. The response of the white students and community members led to covertly segregated activities like parties, socials and church despite formal admittance. Jean Knapp finished her article saying, The Negroes are outnumbered, discouraged, and unable to solve the problems. It will be only through the combined efforts of the faculty, the churches, and all the students that an equality of the white and black races can be

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established and maintained on our campus.

viii

Outnumbered by thousands of white students

who often excluded them from various activities, African Americans likely felt discouraged by their situation. Segregation at this point seems overwhelming because of the covert and overt nature in which it was manifested. For African Americans, many options proved to be inaccessible. The daunting segregation position, while not as dire as the one that was taking place in the southern United States, still oppressed and excluded bright articulate students of the University. The answer to their problem was not obvious or easy. They could decide to focus on their schoolwork and get out of the University of Illinois as quickly as possible with a degree and a new future, which is something that many likely did. Other African American students made a different choice, one to fight for their rights. This choice fueled by frustration and a longing for change, would eventually nearly eradicate segregation in the community as well as on University of Illinois campus. However, as expected they met with much opposition. There were many reasons that students and members of the community were still prejudiced, even in 1955. In another Green Cauldron article, written almost a decade later, a student named William Nilsson wrote an article explaining prejudice and its roots. His reasons include parental influence, fear of the unknown and unfamiliar, and as well as economics. He writes, inferiority, distrust of the unknown and unfamiliar, fear of economic competition, desire for profit through exploitation, the need for a scapegoat, these are the main sources from which prejudices spring. While this essay does not attempt a solution of

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the problem, it does suggest that such a solution cannot be a simple one, for the causes of prejudice are not simple.
ix

Behaviors learned in childhood are part of the reason why racism and segregation had persisted this far. The roots of racial segregation and discrimination were deep and these seemed like natural and normal because African Americans faced these institutions for such a long period of time. For whites, the removal of segregation seemed frightening because adults had had little or no contact with African Americans personally through their own lives and that was passed from generation to generation. Generational segregation led to the maintenance of segregated dorms. In 1945, women s dorms still remained segregated and often African American women found themselves forced to live at least fourteen blocks from campus, on the other side of the tracks. There was one African American sorority. It was run down and only twenty women lived in the sorority house. One African American woman, Mildred Harris from Chicago, Illinois conducted a survey asking African American and white women if they would be willing to live with someone from another race and many of the women said yes, that they would be willing to live in integrated housing.x Action regarding civil rights in Champaign-Urbana was becoming more and more common. This is an event that shows the start of a community beginning to realize that change was coming. This research that Mildred Harris reported in 1945 uncovered an imminent change that was occurring society. It showed that change would not only be tolerated, but that it was hoped for in Champaign-Urbana. This research indicates that

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discrimination was not necessarily desired in campus housing as had been the assumption for many years, a concept that most people had never considered before. A certain number of people were tired of this behavior, the majority of this group was African American, but included some whites. However, the main organizers and protestors were African Americans because the civil rights denial that was taking place was aimed at African Americans. Discrimination and segregation led to lack of civil rights and exclusion from many societal arenas for African Americans. Action against inequality and acts of segregation began to take place through the south and through the north. At University of Illinois, students and community members joined organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Student-Community Human Relations Council (S-CHRC), both of which organized and mobilized African Americans. This allowed them to collaborate, organize and mobilize for the impending Civil Rights Movement. These organizations and organizations like them contained students and community members as well as faculty as the University of Illinois. Male and female members actively worked to established civil rights in Champaign Urbana. The Student-Community Human Relations Council was largely responsible for ending discrimination at restaurants, pools, and barber shops as well as stopping University shows that contained ridicule of African Americans and other minorities. Their membership was inclusive, Membership is S-CHRC is open to any student of resident of Champaign County who is interested in ending discrimination and improving human relations by peaceful and democratic means.
xi

These policies of inclusion led

many to join their organization especially women, who were intricately involved in these

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organizations. Women s membership was not always as high as that of men, but women were very involved and did make an impact on the civil rights action in Champaign-Urbana. On a list of potential members of the S-CHRC in the mid 1950s, thirty four names were those of women out of seventy two names. Couples often joined these organizations together, but single men and women also joined these organizations. On the potential board of trustees for the committee, there were eight women s names proposed, out of twenty one names total. At this point, the availability and willingness of women to participate is clear. Women were involved in many civil rights activities, in Champaign-Urbana, including protests and picketing which seems like an activity that would be largely dominated by men, but NAACP and S-CHRC records and scrapbooks indicate that it was the opposite. Women often took a place a protests and pickets throughout the town. You can find several instances where women outnumber men when protesting and picketing at restaurants and businesses in Champaign-Urbana. A 1946 article tells about a protest of Student Community Interracial Committee (SCIC, the former name of the S-CHRC). The group focused on protesting discriminatory serving practices of restaurants on campus and asking other students and passersby to boycott restaurants that did not serve African Americans. The majority of picketers in this protest are recorded as being female University of Illinois students. In this protest few men participated, but one male remained in each picket line.xii The fact that women were doing the brunt of the picketing for these protests is a very interesting concept. The availability of women was possibly slightly higher, because many did not work outside of the home at this point, but this is something women were dedicated to especially in the area. They provided effort and action to accomplish things in the Civil Rights Movement in Champaign-Urbana.
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Restaurant segregation in Champaign-Urbana, especially on campus, ended up becoming a hot issue in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Restaurants frequently refused to serve African Americans or they were treated poorly while in the restaurant and one bar, Bidewell s would not serve African Americans alcohol. Very few restaurants still discriminated at this point, but African Americans refused to let this continue to occur in Champaign-Urbana. Women often acted as witnesses to this type of segregation in our area. Affidavits that testify to discrimination at restaurants, with women s names and signatures from the 1950s, are numerous. These affidavits tell the story of African American men and women going to restaurants with friends and family and facing discrimination. Often women are submitting themselves to possibly bad treatment in discriminatory establishments and later testifying to these acts of discrimination that occurred to them despite consequences that could ensue. xiii Discrimination at these restaurants included refusal of service, telling African Americans they could eat in the kitchen, telling African Americans to go to the back of the establishment for their food or telling them that they had to take their food to-go. Many times the owners, managers or staff expressed rudeness as well as attitudes that they would never change their practices.xiv Organizations that these women affiliated themselves with used these affidavits to threaten to file a lawsuit or actually file a lawsuit against the restaurants if they did not change their serving practices. It was a voluntary systematic process women involved themselves in to help end discrimination in Champaign-Urbana. Test-runs became an activity women also participated in; they entered and ordered at restaurants that claimed they had changed their

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policies to see if they would actually be served. If they had not they would testify to this and file it with their organization so they could take action.xv More often than not these restaurants had actually changed and women were largely involved in actually bringing about this change through their persistence and participation in this area. One local woman, Mrs. Clementyne Guy, wrote and signed an important affidavit providing the community with particularly noteworthy discrimination information. She interviewed with Mr. Richard D. Meyer at Veteran s Procurement, a store that sold books and supplies for a clerical position in 1948. Mrs. Guy was told her qualifications were good and then Meyer informed Mrs. Guy that he would need to take time to consider whether or not she should be hired. Meyer employed three African American women and 14 Caucasian women, but was concerned about hiring more African American women. Meyer stated he had no racial prejudice, and that his main concern was that because African Americans were considered by some to be ignorant , lower class, uncouth, and lazy, that tensions may arise within the

office between the African American women and Caucasian women. Mrs. Guy determined that she should not consider the job after his discriminatory statements towards African Americans and herself. Mrs. Guy filed an affidavit to provide information to the community discrimination like this was taking place in Champaign-Urbana. xvi Affidavits such as this did not just provide documentations for potential lawsuits aimed to stop discrimination, but they also provided the community with needed information that exposed the hiring and serving practices of businesses in the area. Affidavits provided a way to take action and create a desire in others to take action. Many of these affidavits were written by women that wanted to expose and end this kind of discrimination that was affecting their lives, communities and societies.
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Employment discrimination like we see in Mrs. Guy s affidavit existed throughout Champaign-Urbana. Harry Tiebout, the campus advisor for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People reports in the Spectator in April of 1961, The employment situation for Negroes has been dismal for many years. Although the situation has improved slightly in the past year-a few chain stores have employed Negro girls as checkers-it is still pretty much the case the most a Negro can look forward to as a career in Champaign is mop-pushing, stock moving, ditch-digging, or cooking and domestic help. African Americans experienced a lack of job accessibility through the 1960s in ChampaignUrbana. JC Penney s planned to open a new store in Champaign and African Americans hoped that they would hire those who were qualified no matter their race or ethnicity. JC Penney s opened their store and began to accept applications for employees. Between fifteen and twenty African Americans applied and the new department store hired none of them. One African American woman with high qualifications, ten years of experience and good recommendations, was denied a job along with the other qualified African American applicants. As soon as JC Penney opened African Americans began to picket for work opportunities at JC Penney and African Americans also boycotted JC Penney until they changed their hiring practices. African Americans participants made up seventy-five percent of the pickets and women made up seventy five percent of picketers. Almost no African Americans went into JC Penney at the time and the picketers included many older, gray-haired ladies who have been walking for
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freedom.

xvii

A fundamental part of the protesting and picketing, the presence of local women

likely made this protest a success because of the number of women participating. The fact that the majority of those picketing both on Green St. and at JC Penney, is made up of groups of African American women is surprising, but these are not isolated incidents. When looking at the Student-Community Human Relations Council scrapbook and other photographs from various protests in Champaign-Urbana especially on Green St., we can see that many of the photographs of protestors and picketers are of women or the majority of the people in the photos are women. The concept that the involvement of women was critical in the Civil Rights Movement was critical is somewhat surprising due to the widespread notion that the Civil Rights Movement was dominated by males. While the men in the Civil Rights Movement dominated the spotlight and publicity, through these Champaign-Urbana events and the photographs from other events we can see that African American s women s involvement was vital to the community. We also can see that while men maintained in positions of authority and had exposure in the public arena in this era, but also during this time, the amount of women mobilizing, organizing and working towards the goal of equal rights was high and women dominated in these areas as well. In the South, women also remained unknown for their work in the Civil Rights movement and the amount of well known men in comparison to women is very high. Women membership in civil rights organizations was high, but women remained outnumbered by men in membership and leadership roles in organizations such as the Interracial Commission and the

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Southern Regional Council in North Carolina. Women are described as active at this time, but in the South women tended to work in their own organizations for equal rights, especially the organizations affiliated with their churches or other religious groups. Dual membership in organizations fighting for civil rights was not uncommon for women. Main organizations held the memberships of many women, but women also formed their own organizations for civil rights activism such as the Women's Society of Christian Service of the Methodist Church; women in the South, in states like North Carolina actively worked in the movement at this time, and were clearly a vital part of the movement. Mrs. Ames, a woman in North Carolina, who established the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching which fought against interracial violence.xviii We can see that women s activities, in the South tended to be separate from those of the men in many cases, whereas in ChampaignUrbana, separation of the sexes did exist, but it seems many of the civil rights activities were intermingled between the sexes. Separation does not indicate a lack of importance, but instead possibly a different focus. One could argue that without women the success of the Civil Rights Movement would have taken much longer. One of the reason s the Civil Rights Movement succeeded was because of the placement of women in the movement and the fact that women brought a much needed strength to change society. One of the most well known parts of the Civil Rights Movement, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, had thousands of women working to make it successful. This boycott took place in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Spurred by Rosa Parks, perhaps the most well known female

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who worked for civil rights at this time, the movement was largely maintained by African American females in Alabama communities. Women collected information, created pamphlets about the movement, distributed the pamphlets, raised money, as well as training and organizing members.xix Undocumented and underappreciated in our society for decades, this is the work that fueled the Civil Rights movement. Without this type of participation from women, who knows when these changes in society would have taken place? Reasons for women s roles largely being the background can be attributed to the fact that women typically did not hold public office, church offices, but instead held more traditional roles that had been in place for generations. Gender roles known to society at this time included those of their ancestors who felt a woman s place was the in the home. This attitude continued into this time period and in some cases persists today. Women possibly could have taken a job such as church secretary, but continued to be very unlikely to hold official or executive positions because of the traditional gender roles of men and women maintained during this time period. Society in general reserved executive and official positions for men. These circumstances that led men to hold these positions have led society today to be unaware of the role women had in the Civil Rights Movement. Through a research study developed in 1987-88, we can see that when interviewed about civil rights movement leaders, individuals at the time named males as civil rights leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., more frequently than they named women. Those interviewed mentioned female figures in the Civil Rights Movement such as Rosa Parks and JoAnn Robinson at an astoundingly lower rate.xx

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During this study, 72.8% of the civil rights activists acknowledged by those interviewed were males compared to the 27.2% of female civil rights activists mentioned. xxi This study shows us that the involvement of women in the Civil Rights Movement has been neglected in our schools, history books, media and society. These women civil rights activists remain underappreciated by society in general because of the behind the scenes role that women took during this time because of societal norms. Women did not have opportunities for as much exposure and therefore are less well known than men civil rights activists. The Civil Rights Movement is a time in history where African Americans came together to fight racism, discrimination, segregation and to gain civil rights that they had been deprived of for generations. African Americans changed society during this era and brought about a change in attitude about race to the United States and created a new way of life for themselves and others in their communities. Through research we can find that the Civil Rights Movement did not only take place in the South, but in the North as well. The Civil Rights Movement ensued throughout our nation, with no regard to region. In Illinois civil rights activism occurred from the 1940s, definitely through the 1960s and likely well into the 1970s, as people joined together to fight for equal rights. Restaurants and businesses were opened to African Americans in many cases for the first time ever. African Americans eventually gained rights to play on whatever sports team they chose to try out for, the right to swim in Crystal Lake pool and sit wherever they desired in the movie theater. In the South, civil rights activists fought to have integration in schools, the same bathroom facilities,

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the same pools, to sit wherever they wanted to on a bus, to vote without harassment and gain civil rights that they have been deprived of for many years. However, in the North and the South, we can find that without the involvement of women in the Civil Rights Movement, equal rights may have taken much longer. Men were in high positions in civil rights organizations and held high positions in society in general, while women worked in the background mobilizing, organizing, fundraising and receiving little publicity or credit for their contributions. Despite the lack of credit and appreciation these women received, they still worked in these organizations until equal rights were achieved. While maybe, unremembered by society, the efforts of these women were crucial to the Civil Rights Movement. Today, these women are still little known, but they form a vital part of our history. While Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were important figures that helped propel and inspire the Civil Rights Movement, these two incredible individuals are a minute percentage of those really involved. And female African American civil rights activists make up a large part of those who remain under recognized even though their contributions to the Civil Rights Movement were enormous.

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Barnett, Bernice McNair. Invisible Southern Black Women Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement: The Triple Constraints of Gender, Race, and Class. Gender and Society , Vol. 7, No. 2 (Jun., 1993), pp. 162-182 ii The New Georgia Encyclopedia. History and Archaeology: The Civil Rights Movement. <http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2716> Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. iii The New Georgia Encyclopedia. History and Archaeology: Segregation. <http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3610&hl=y> Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. iv Knapp, Jean. The University of Illinois and its Negroes. The Green Cauldron. April 1946. The Green Cauldron, Box 2, RS 41/3/1. University of Illinois Student Life Archives, Urbana, IL. v Knapp, Jean. The University of Illinois and its Negroes. The Green Cauldron. April 1946. The Green Cauldron, Box 2, RS 41/3/1. University of Illinois Student Life Archives, Urbana, IL. vi Knapp, Jean. The University of Illinois and its Negroes. The Green Cauldron. April 1946. The Green Cauldron, Box 2, RS 41/3/1. University of Illinois Student Life Archives, Urbana, IL. vii Knapp, Jean. The University of Illinois and its Negroes. The Green Cauldron. April 1946. The Green Cauldron, Box 2, RS 41/3/1. University of Illinois Student Life Archives, Urbana, IL. viii Knapp, Jean. The University of Illinois and its Negroes. The Green Cauldron. April 1946. The Green Cauldron, Box 2, RS 41/3/1. University of Illinois Student Life Archives, Urbana, IL. ix Nillson, William. Why People are Prejudiced. The Green Cauldron. May 1955. The Green Cauldron, Box 2, RS 41/3/1. University of Illinois Student Life Archives, Urbana, IL. x Harris, Mildred. No U. Of I. Dorms for Negroes. Defender, August, 4, 1945. The Harry Tiebout Papers: SCIC scrapbook. Box 3, RS 15/16/21. University of Illinois Archives at the Main Library, Urbana, IL xi SC-HRC. A Program in Human Relations.1955The Harry Tiebout Papers: CORE. Box 3, RS 15/16/21. University of Illinois Archives at the Main Library, Urbana, IL xii SCIC Scrapbook. The Harry Tiebout Papers: SCIC scrapbook. Box 3, RS 15/16/21. University of Illinois Archives at the Main Library, Urbana, IL xiii Restaurant Affidavits SCIC and NAACP. The Harry Tiebout Papers: NAACP and SCIC folders. Box 3, RS 15/16/21. University of Illinois Archives at the Main Library, Urbana, IL xiv Restaurant Affidavits SCIC and NAACP, 1945-1955. The Harry Tiebout Papers: NAACP and SCIC folders. Box 3, RS 15/16/21. University of Illinois Archives at the Main Library, Urbana, IL xv Restaurant Affidavits SCIC and NAACP, 1945-1955. The Harry Tiebout Papers: NAACP and SCIC folders. Box 3, RS 15/16/21. University of Illinois Archives at the Main Library, Urbana, IL xvi Mrs. Clementyne Guy Affidavit, 1948. The Harry Tiebout Papers: SCIC UI employment discussion: Box 3, RS 15/16/21. University of Illinois Archives at the Main Library, Urbana, IL, 1948 xvii Tiebout, Harry. Picketing Significant Breakthrough . Spectator, April 17, 1961. The Harry Tiebout Papers: JC Penney Protest, 1961. Box 4, RS: 15/16/21. University of Illinois Archives at the Main Library, Urbana, IL xviii Documenting the American South: Interview with Guy B. Johnson, December 16, 1974.Interview B-0006. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. xix Barnett, Bernice McNair. Invisible Southern Black Women Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement: The Triple Constraints of Gender, Race, and Class. Gender and Society , Vol. 7, No. 2 (Jun., 1993), pp. 162-182 xx Barnett, Bernice McNair. Invisible Southern Black Women Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement: The Triple Constraints of Gender, Race, and Class. Gender and Society , Vol. 7, No. 2 (Jun., 1993), pp. 162-182 xxi Barnett, Bernice McNair. Invisible Southern Black Women Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement: The Triple Constraints of Gender, Race, and Class. Gender and Society , Vol. 7, No. 2 (Jun., 1993), pp. 162-182

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