Radicalism at the Crossroads: African American Women Activists in the Cold War

244 Pages·2011·4.433 MB·English

by  Dayo F. Gore

Radicalism at the Crossroads

Radicalism at
the Crossroads
African American Women
Activists in the Cold War
Dayo F. Gore
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2011 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs
that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gore, Dayo F.
Radicalism at the crossroads : African American
women activists in the Cold War / Dayo F. Gore.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–8147–3236–6 (cl : alk. paper) — ISBN 978–0–8147–3278–6 (e-book)
1. African American women political activists—History—20th century.
2. Women radicals—United States—History—20th century. 3. African American
radicals—History—20th century. 4. Radicalism—United States—History—20th century.
5. Feminism—United States—History—20th century. 6. Communism—United States—
History—20th century. 7. United States—Race relations—History—20th century. I. Title.
E185.615.G668 2010
322.4’20820973—dc22 2010033744
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials
to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Forging a Community of Radical Intellectuals and Activists 15
Black Women, the Black Left, and the Communist
Party USA in the 1930s and 1940s
2 In Defense of Black Womanhood 46
Race, Gender, Class, and the Politics of
Interracial Solidarity, 1945–1951
3 Reframing Civil Rights Activism during the Cold War 74
The Rosa Lee Ingram Case, 1948–1959
4 Race and Gender at Work 100
From the Labor Journalism of Marvel Cooke to Vicki Garvin
and the National Negro Labor Council, 1935–1956
5 From Freedom to Freedomways 130
Black Women Radicals and the Black Freedom
Movement in the 1960s and 1970s
Conclusion 161
Centering Black Women on the Left
Notes 167
Bibliography 207
Index 221
About the Author 231
| v

Acknowledgments
I began research for this book many years ago with a grainy micro-
film copy of Paul Robeson’s Freedom newspaper. In the course of this proj-
ect’s transformation from an intriguing archival find into a book, I have
relied on the support and generosity of many individuals, friends, colleagues,
archivists, and institutions. I can only begin to account for the full depth of
my gratitude in these brief acknowledgments. I must first thank the women
whose lifelong activism and commitment to creating a better world inspired
this book. I am particularly grateful to Esther Cooper Jackson, Thelma Dale
Perkins, and the late Vicki Garvin for taking the time to share their memo-
ries and insights with me. I am also extremely grateful to Miranda Bergman,
Lincoln Bergman, and Sheila Gregory Thomas, for sharing with me their sto-
ries about and memories of their loved ones and to photographer Norma
Holt for use of her images.
Research and writing for this project have been made possible by the
generous support of several grants and fellowships including a research
grant from the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America;
a yearlong fellowship from the International Center for Advanced Studies
Project on the Cold War at New York University; a National Endowment for
the Humanities summer seminar grant; a Scholars-in-Residence fellowship,
funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, at the Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture; and a timely course release supported
by the Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies program at the University of Mas-
sachusetts at Amherst. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Colin Palmer,
the Director of the Schomburg’s Scholars-in-Residence Program. It was at
the Schomburg that I began to rethink and revise my work. Colin’s intellec-
tual engagement and generosity contributed to making my time at the center
invigorating and productive. Many thanks also to Diana Lanchatanere, cura-
tor of the Schomburg’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Division, who,
during my time in residence and after, provided helpful suggestions and gra-
ciously answered questions.
| vii
For their guidance in negotiating archival material and images, I would
like to thank Thomas Lisanti, Permissions Manager at the New York Pub-
lic Library; David Kuzma, Reference Archivist, and Erika Gorder, Associ-
ate University Archivist at the Special Collections and University Archives,
Rutgers University Library; Donna L. Levy, Librarian, and Erika Gottfried,
Curator of Nonprint Collections at the Tamiment Library and Robert F.
Wagner Labor Archives, New York University Libraries; and Teresa M. Burk,
Research Services Archivist in the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book
Library, Emory University.
I have benefited immeasurably from the insights and generosity of many
teachers and scholars in the field, particularly Robin D. G. Kelley, Lisa Dug-
gan, Tricia Rose, Marilyn Young, and Frederick Cooper, who as my disserta-
tion committee provided crucial direction and constructive criticism during
the early stages of this research. They continue to offer guidance and power-
ful models of politically engaged scholarship. I am also grateful to Gerald
Horne, whose prodigious research and scholarship have done much to rein-
vigorate the study of the black left during the 1950s. His comments on a chap-
ter of this book and his advice regarding publication came at particularly
useful moments. I would also like to thank James Campbell, whose enthu-
siasm for history and intellectual exchange inspired me as an undergraduate
student in his freshman seminar on African American history. After years
without contact, I have been heartened by his renewed support of my work.
The book has been greatly improved by those who have generously read
portions or all of the manuscript and offered sage comments. They include
Jamila Gore, Christina Hanhardt, Peniel Joseph, James Smethurst, Jeanne
Theoharis, Rebeccah Welch, and Komozi Woodard. I am also grateful to the
anonymous reviewers at New York University Press and Duke University
Press, who provided much appreciated feedback and detailed suggestions
for improving the manuscript. Debbie Gershenowitz at New York University
Press believed in this project even when it still needed considerable work.
Her encouragement and editorial attention have been exceptional. Gabrielle
Begue shepherded the book through its many phases with skill, and Des-
pina P. Gimbel’s attention to detail and patience during the final stages of the
manuscript were much appreciated.
This book and my own thinking have also benefited enormously from
a community of scholars also engaged in studying black women’s radi-
calism and the black left during the 1940s and 1950s. I would like to
thank Martha Biondi, Ruth Feldstein, Erik S. Gellman, Jennifer Gug-
viii | Acknowledgments
lielmo, Mary Helen Washington, Erik McDuffie, Barbara Ransby, James
Smethurst, and Judith Smith, who have, through research leads, their
own scholarly examples, conversations, and shared conference panels,
helped to make this a richer historical study.
Throughout this project, I have been sustained by both newly formed
and longstanding bonds of collegiality and friendship. I owe many, many
thanks to my activist communities in New York City, particularly those I
met through the Audre Lorde Project, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Commu-
nities, and People’s Justice 2000. Their friendship, dedication, and political
vision helped to keep me grounded and focused on the larger project of
liberation. A special thanks is also due my fellow CANS members; Betsy
Esch, Kimberly Gilmore, and Michael LaCombe for helping me to resist
all the naysaying. I am also grateful to Nerissa Balce, Richard Chu, Margo
Crawford, Celina Denkins, Eva Hageman (thanks for the research help),
Lili Kim, Tuyet Le, Asha Nadkarni, Mireille Miller-Young, Sherie Randolph,
Sujani Reddy, Micol Seigel, and Andy Terranova, for providing keen insights
and encouragement when needed and sanity-saving distractions and humor
when necessary. My many conversations with Christina Hanhardt, a trusted
friend and fellow traveler in academic life, helped me to see my work in a
broader political and intellectual context. I would also like to thank Jeanne
Theoharis for her friendship, counsel, and intellectual generosity. The final
edits for this manuscript were completed under particularly trying circum-
stances. I cannot express how appreciative I am to Shamaila Khan, Hector
Adames, and Carla Bernardes for stepping in when work demanded my
attention and to Deborah Fox and Lamar Miller for welcoming me into
their home.
Finally, I owe immeasurable thanks to my family, whose love, encourage-
ment, and support have seen me through it all. My parents, James Gore and
Juliet Jenkins Gore, have each, in their own way, instilled in me a love of his-
tory and political debate, as well as a stubborn commitment, sometimes to
their own vexation, to charting my own life path. My mother’s stories about
her great-grandfather and her own journey from Newport News to Detroit
in the 1960s sparked my initial curiosity about “what happened back then,”
and my father’s keen eye for racial politics allowed me to see the importance
of these issues in our everyday lives. For their love, humor, and the occa-
sional reality checks, I thank my brothers and sisters, Cheryl, Demetreus,
Gabriel, Keesonga, and Jamila, as well as the extended Gore family, Angie,
Daiquan, Grace, Jaden, Nicole, Nyemah, Serena, and Zachery.
Acknowledgments | ix
My most heartfelt love and gratitude goes to Arianne Miller for her
unwavering love and belief in me. As this book has traveled along its path,
she has read too many drafts to count and has always offered honest and
insightful comments. She has celebrated my accomplishments, encouraged
me in the face of setbacks, and listened to the minute details of my research,
all while completing her own research and writing. Her creativity, passion,
and perseverance continue to amaze and inspire.
x | Acknowledgments