Women In The Civil Rights Movement

In “Invisible Black Women Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement: The Triple Constraints of Gender, Race, and Class,” by Bernice McNair Barnett, Barnett explores the intersectionality of race, gender, and class and its effects on African American women and their unique experience in the Civil Rights Movement. During the Civil Rights Movements, women were allowed to participate, and they even played essential roles that helped to further the movement. From helping to organize the famous Bus Boycott, raising money, and initiating protests, black women in the Civil Rights Movement had a significant hand in creating one of the social movements. However, because of their gender, African American women weren’t allowed to receive any recognition for

Barnett writes, “Although seldom recognized leaders, these women were often the ones who initiated protests, formulated strategies and tactics, and mobilize other resources necessary for successful collective action.” Black women in the movement used their skills and did a lot of the planning and organizing, and three prominent women in the movement were: Georgia Gilmore, Septima Clark, and JoAnn Robinson. Georgia Gilmore played a significant role by helping to raise money to support boycotts. Barnett writes, “To raise money to support the boycott, Gilmore single-handedly organized the Club From Nowhere, which she indigenously named to avoid compromising white as well as Black Patrons.” By starting the Club For Nowhere, Gilmore was able to fund and further the movement without having any money being traced to white or black people. Not only did women help fund the movement, women like Septima Clark used her skills in order to inform and educate others in the movement. Barnett writes, “Had it not been for Clark and her mastery at teaching illiterate adult Blacks how to read and write, the 1965 Voting Rights Act would have been meaningless because Southern states had successfully disenfranchised the majority of the Black population…” Throughout the article, Clark is spoken very highly of and her role being essential to the movement by educating black people so

Do classism, racism, and sexism still affect women activist and leaders today? While looking at women activist and leaders today the answer points towards yes. In the Black Lives Matter campaign, men continue to be the most influential and recognized figure even though the Black Lives Matter campaign was started by three women: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. However, some of the first names that come to mind while thinking of the Black Lives Matter movement is DeRay McKesson and the founders of the Black Lives Matter campaign are invisible. Even for celebrities, who are constantly in the spotlight, black women are less valued and their thoughts and features are more accepted on their European peers. For example, Beyonce has claimed to be a feminist and an advocate for equality between the sexes, but now the terminology ‘feminist’ has been coined by white women. Celebrities like Emma Watson, Jennifer Lawerence, Taylor Swift, and Amy Schumer are now the traditional and accepted icons for feminism, even though Beyonce has preached feminism long before them. Not only is Beyonce rendered invisible now she is also attacked by these icons like Emma Watson for not upholding their new standard of feminism. Although, some black women are able to still become in the spotlight like Michelle Obama. As the first African American first lady, Michelle lead with grace and