Unlikely Dissenters: White Southern Women in the Fight for Racial Justice, 1920-1970

350 Pages·2015·2.68 MB·English

by  Anne Stefani

Unlikely Dissenters
University Press of Florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
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Unlikely
Dissenters
White Southern Women in
the Fight for Racial Justice, 1920–1970
Anne Stefani
University Press of Florida
Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota
Copyright 2015 by Anne Stefani
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
This book may be available in an electronic edition.
20 19 18 17 16 15 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stefani, Anne, author.
Unlikely dissenters : white southern women in the fight for racial justice, 1920–1970 / Anne Stefani.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8130-6076-7
1. Women, White—Political activity—Southern States—History—20th century. 2. Women
civil rights workers—Southern States—History—20th century. 3. Women—Southern States—
History—20th century. 4. Southern States—Social life and customs. 5. Women political activists—
Southern States—History—20th century. 6. African Americans—Civil rights—Southern States—
History—20th century. I. Title.
F220.A1S74 2015
320.08207509'04—dc23
2015004617
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System
of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast
University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida,
University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of
South Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1. Profiles: Two Generations, One Identity 12
2. Before Brown: Southern Lady Activism 57
3. After Brown, Part One: The Tactics of Respectability 97
4. After Brown, Part Two: Open Confrontation 134
5. The 1960s Movement: Modern Abolitionists 179
6. A Peculiar Brand of Feminism 217
Conclusion 251
Appendix: Selected Biographical Sketches 255
Notes 267
Bibliography 307
Index 323
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Figures
Figures follow page 166.
1. Dorothy Rogers Tilly, n.d.
2. Juliette Hampton Morgan, circa 1935
3. Lillian E. Smith, 1944
4. Margaret Long, 1950
5. Nan Pendergrast, “Thrower for Congress” tea, 1956
6. Women’s Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools members, 1963
7. Anne Braden and Ella Baker, n.d.
8. Anne Braden, SCEF office, n.d.
9. Frances Freeborn Pauley, Fisk University Race Relations Seminar, 1961
10. Joan C. Browning, Fisk University Race Relations Seminar, 1962
11. Margaret Burr Leonard, Freedom Rider, 1961
12. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, Freedom Rider, 1961
13. Joan C. Browning, 1962
14. Dorothy Dawson Burlage, n.d.
15. Constance Curry, 1973
16. Sara Mitchell Parsons and Angela Davis, 1977
17. Casey Hayden, 1988
18. Mary E. King, 2013
19. Margaret Burr Leonard, 2008
20. Joan C. Browning and Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, 2011
21. Four friends commemorating the 1960s struggle (Patricia A. Jarvis, Joan
C. Browning, Faye Powell, and Cinda Kinsey), 2012
22. Nan Pendergrast, circa 2010
23. Virginia Foster Durr and her four daughters, 1993
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Acknowledgments
The present book would never have existed without the work, help, and sup-
port of a myriad of people I have met since I embarked on this research proj-
ect and even earlier. Although I cannot thank them all by name, I want to
express my gratitude to every one of them.
First on the list are the many librarians and archivists who always wel-
comed and helped me in every possible way to facilitate my work. It has
been a true pleasure to do research in the conditions they created for me.
The adventure started a very long time ago at the Hargrett Rare Book and
Manuscript Library of the University of Georgia; the Manuscript, Archives,
and Rare Book Library (MARBL) of Emory University; and the Southern
Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Li-
brary of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, when I
first conducted research on Lillian Smith and white southern liberalism. It
was at UNC I met the American scholars who introduced me to the fasci-
nating field of southern studies. I thank Fred Hobson, John Shelton Reed,
and Joel Williamson for generously sharing their scholarly expertise with the
student I was then—my very first inspiration being Michel Bandry, who be-
came a colleague and friend. After finishing my Ph.D. and working for several
years on other related subjects, I returned to my original favorite concern,
white southern womanhood, which took me to the Schlesinger Library at the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies; to the Wisconsin Historical Soci-
ety at Madison; to MARBL at Emory University again; to the King Library
and Archives at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social
Change; to the Archives and Special Collections, Woodruff Library, at At-
lanta University Center; to the Special Collections Department at Georgia
State University; and to the Caroliniana Library Archives at the University