Behind the historical accounts of the great men of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People lies the almost
forgotten story of the black women who not only participated in the
organization but actually helped it thrive in the early
twentieth-century South. In Invisible Activists, Lee Sartain
examines attitudes toward the gender, class, and citizenship of
African American activists in Louisiana and women's roles in the
campaign for civil rights in the state. In the end, he argues, it
was the women working behind the scenes in Louisiana's branches of
the NAACP who were the most crucial factor in the organization's
efficiency and survival. During the first half of the twentieth
century—especially in the darkest days of the Great Depression,
when membership waned and funds were scarce—a core group of women
maintained Louisiana's NAACP. Fighting on the front line, Sartain
explains, women acted as grassroots organizers, running public
relations campaigns and membership drives, mobilizing youth groups,
and promoting general community involvement. Using case studies of
several prominent female NAACP members in Louisiana, Sartain
demonstrates how women combined their fundraising skills with an
extensive network of community and family ties to fund the NAACP
and, increasingly, to undertake the day-to-day operations of the
local organizations themselves. Still, these women also struggled
against the double obstacles of racism and sexism that prevented
them from attaining the highest positions within NAACP branch
leadership. Sartain illustrates how the differences between the
sexes were ultimately woven into the political battle for racial
justice, where women were viewed as having inherent moral
superiority and, hence, the potential to lift the black population
as a whole. Sartain concludes that despite the societal traditions
that kept women out of leadership positions, in the early stages of
the civil rights movement, their skills and their contributions as
community matriarchs provided the keys to the organization's
progress. Highly original and essential to a comprehensive study of
the NAACP, Invisible Activists gives voice to the many individual
women who sustained the influential civil rights organization
during a time of severe racial oppression in Louisiana. Without
such dedication, Sartain asserts, the organization would have had
no substantial presence in the state.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
October 2023 |
Authors: |
Lee Sartain
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
224 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-8042-6 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8071-8042-4 |
Barcode: |
9780807180426 |
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