Unbought and Unbossed: Black Women Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement
Alexis Dorsey, Sonia Kinkhabwala, Connor Kennedy
When one thinks of the Civil Rights movement, renowned figures like Martin Luther King Jr. come to mind. While it is important to recognize Dr. King’s contributions to the movement, the women of color who fought for civil rights and liberties during this time are often overlooked. Among these unsung heroes are Dorothy Height, Gloria Richardson, and Shirley Chisholm. These women served in different spheres, including at the local level, as counsel for prominent American leaders, and in Congress. Similarly, they practiced different leadership styles – ranging from grassroots community organizing to affecting change from inside the federal government. In spite of these differences and several obstacles, including the structure of traditional male, charismatic leadership, all three of these women pushed for progress with impressive results.
Dorothy Irene Height began her career in the 1930s, decades prior to the major strides of the Civil Rights movement. She received an oratorical scholarship that enabled her to attend New York University, where she would graduate and go on to work at the New York City Welfare Department as a caseworker. [1] By the end of the 30s, she was working for the Young Women’s Christian Association. Here, she worked hand-in-hand with women on issues concerning women – including at a lodging for black women in Harlem. Shortly after starting at the YWCA, Height met a few women that left lasting impressions on her. She was assigned to accompany Eleanor Roosevelt to a meeting of the National Council of Negro Women, which was under the leadership of Mary Mcleod Bethune. When asked about this meeting, Dorothy said “as I was leaving to take Mrs. Roosevelt, I–Mrs. Bethune asked me my name, and when I told her, she said, come back. We need you. And I’ve been back ever since.” [2] This was Dorothy’s first exposure to the national organization that she would eventually lead herself, and to a woman whom she would always revere.
Prior to becoming president of the NCNW in 1957, Height was the president of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, another national organization led by black women that was founded at Howard University in 1913. [3] Dorothy Height’s leadership of national organizations allowed her to assume a level of prominence rare for women of color. While president of the NCNW, she was a member of the Council for the United Civil Rights leadership group, which included the eminent Dr. King and John Lewis. As the sole woman of the group, she helped organize the March on Washington in 1963. In her memoir, Height writes of “appeals to include a woman speaker” occurring as late as the day of the march, but to no avail. [4] As a woman who got her start through an oratorical scholarship and as the president of the NCNW, Height would have been a natural choice to give a voice to women at all levels of the Civil Rights movement. Nonetheless, Height’s contribution to the movement is a large reason it has the legacy it has today. As Dorothy herself said, “Well, if there’s anything you can say about American women, it is that they are organized.” [5]
Gloria Richardson was born in Cambridge, Maryland in May 1922. She is best known for leading protests in her hometown during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The Cambridge Movement, as it is now known, fought segregation and other pervasive effects of racism – including lack of healthcare access for Cambridge’s African American citizens. Richardson led the Cambridge Non-Violent Action Committee in town-wide demonstrations. [6] When these events often turned violent and brutality began to reign, the National Guard was dispatched to Cambridge. In this picture, Richardson fends off a Guardsman who attempts to block her way. This moment not only reflects the indomitable spirit of the movement, but also of Richardson herself, as she says, “I was brought up to slug it out in terms of what I thought or felt with anybody.” [7]
In the summer of 1963, Gloria Richardson met with Robert Kennedy at the White House. In conversations, Kennedy pushed Richardson to accept the use of a referendum to establish civil rights by citizen vote. Richardson pushed back against this, insisting that equal rights were already guaranteed to all people via the Constitution. Richardson reports that the government insisted on the referendum, promising her jobs within the federal government and other perks if she accepted the referendum. Richardson often expressed a distrust in the federal government saying, “that’s when I told him he could tell Robert Kennedy and the President to go to hell, that I was not afraid of them.” [7] Eventually, Richardson and Kennedy reached an agreement that included a referendum, but also the desegregation of Cambridge schools.
Richardson’s activism reflects her proclivity towards community-based change as opposed to what community organizer, Gerardo Calderón calls “hero” leadership. [8] In mobilizing the individuals in the town she grew up in, Richardson showcased the potential of ordinary people to create transformative social change in where they are. This is in contrast to the famed charismatic leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. If anything, Gloria Richardson’s contributions to the movement showcase how empowered community members can make just as much of an impact as a “great speech.” [7]
Shirley Chisholm took part in community leadership, and later became involved in the federal government. She started in politics in the Seventeenth Assembly District (17AD) Democratic Club in Bedford-Stuvysent, Brooklyn in the 1940’s, during her time at Brooklyn College. In 1968, she became the first African-American woman in Congress and in 1972, the first African-American to run in the presidential primaries for a major party [9]. She used her political platform to advocate for both women and African-American’s civil rights. While teaching nursery school after graduation, she was involved in organizing sit-ins with people in her community to advocate for poor peoples’ rights [10].
Chisholm was an outspoken leader who was focused on the people. She was known for being headstrong and unintimidated by those who disagreed with her. On getting involved in politics, she states, “I think that because I had this tenacity of spirit, people began to say back in the local community; ‘Well, my goodness, we have people who are on the council, and in the state legislature but they don’t help us the way you do. Why don’t you consider moving into the political arena?’” [10] In the 17AD Democratic Club, she was the only black woman in the room. Thought the community was two-thirds black, the board of directors was mostly Irish men [11]. The white men in the club opposed black candidates for office. Shirley was kicked off the board of directors after just three weeks because she found out about these exclusionary tactics and would not keep quiet [10]. During her presidential campaign, she called herself “Fighting Shirley” and used the campaign slogan “Unbossed and Unbought” [9]. She was seen as an “irritant,” about which she comments, “[Black and white professional politicians] are not able to get along with me because I will not play the game that has been played for many years in this country to keep black people back” [10]. Her campaign appealed to students and minority groups: women, African-American, Mexican-Amercians, and Native Americans [12]. She spoke in fluent Spanish to Mexican-American voters. Though she lacked support from most black male politicians, she had the support of the Black Panther Party, which represented black militant hypermasculinity [11].
The intersection of being black and a woman created additional obstacles for her in her campaign, but paved the way for future black women to break into politics. Chisholm’s black male critics argued she was tied down by the Women’s Liberation movement, to which she says she is simply a woman with other women rallying behind her success, but she is not captive [10]. A New York Times headline from January 2019 evokes Chisholm to announce Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy [13].
These women are just a few among the many black female leaders that redefined the respective spheres of power they operated in. Their work is more easily overlooked when compared to the lionized roles their male colleagues have in the history we were taught and know so well. From local, behind-the-scenes organizing to being elected Congress, black women have served in pivotal roles in the advancement of the cause of both black and womens’ rights in the United States.
Bibliography
[1] Crewe, Sandra Edmonds. “Dorothy Irene Height: Profile of a Giant in Pursuit of Equal Justice for Black Women.” Affilia 24, no. 2 (2009): 199-205.
[2] “Dorothy Height.” thehistorymakers.org https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/dorothy-height-39 (accessed January 19, 2020)
[3] “Founders.” deltasigmatheta.org https://www.deltasigmatheta.org/founders (accessed Jnuary 20, 2020)
[4] Height, Dorothy Irene. “Chapter 9: Land of the Free” Open Wide the Freedom Gates. New York, NY: PublicAffairs, 2003.
[5] Cowan, Polly, transcript of an oral history conducted in 1974-96, in Interviews of the Black Women Oral History Project, 1976-1981: Dorothy Height Schlesinger Library, Harvard University, 1976, pp. 67.
[6] Joesph Mosnier, Gloria Hayes Richardson Interview, transcript of an oral history conducted 2011 by Joseph Mosnier, Civil Rights History Project, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Library of Congress, 2011, pp. 1-49.
[7] Jeff Kisseloff, Transcript of oral history, in Generation on Fire: Voices of Protest from the 1960s: An Oral History. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2007, pp. 51-58.
[8] Gerardo, Calderón, “Social change needs engaged communities, not heroes,” filmed Nov. 5, 2014. TED video, 14:09, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdHBWL4LK88.
[9] Michals, Debra, “Shirley Chisholm,” n.d. <https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/shirley-chisholm> (20 January 2020).
[10] Edward Thompson, Transcript of an oral history conducted 1973, in Ralph J. Bunche Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights Movement, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, pp.1-30.
[11] Barbara Winslow, Shirley Chisholm : Catalyst for Change (Boulder: Routledge, 2013) Accessed January 20, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central.
[12] Norman Miller, “Mrs. Chisholm Insists on Running, to Dismay of Many Politicians: Blacks Who Support Others are Put in a Spot, Whites Fear Impact on their Men,” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 14, 1972.
[13] Astead Herndon, “Following in Chisholm’s Steps, Harris Plunges Into 2020 Field,” New York Times, Jan. 22, 2019.