Want to Start a Revolution?: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle

364 Pages·2009·6.25 MB·English

by  Jeanne Theoharis

Want to Start a Revolution?
This page intentionally left blank
Want to Start
a Revolution?
Radical Women in the
Black Freedom Struggle
Edited by Dayo F. Gore,
Jeanne Theoharis, and
Komozi Woodard
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2009 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Want to start a revolution? : radical women in the Black freedom
struggle / edited by Dayo F. Gore, Jeanne Theoharis, and Komozi
Woodard.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978–0–8147–8313–9 (cl : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–8147–8313–9 (cl : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978–0–8147–8314–6 (pb : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–8147–8314–7 (pb : alk. paper)
1. African American women civil rights workers—History—20th
century. 2. African American women political activists—History—
20th century. 3. Women radicals—United States—History—20th
century. 4. African American radicals—History—20th century. 5.
African Americans—Civil rights—History—20th century. 6. Civil
rights movements—United States—History—20th century. 7. Black
power—United States—History—20th century. 8. Feminism—United
States—History—20th century. 9. Communism—United States—
History—20th century. 10. United States—Race relations—History—
20th century. I. Gore, Dayo F. II. Theoharis, Jeanne. III. Woodard,
Komozi.
E185.615.W328 2009
323.1196’073—dc22 2009029215
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
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Dayo F. Gore, Jeanne Theoharis, and Komozi Woodard
1 “No Small Amount of Change Could Do”: 25
Esther Cooper Jackson and the Making of
a Black Left Feminist
Erik S. McDuffie
2 What “the Cause” Needs Is a “Brainy and 47
Energetic Woman”: A Study of Female
Charismatic Leadership in Baltimore
Prudence Cumberbatch
3 From Communist Politics to Black Power: 72
The Visionary Politics and Transnational
Solidarities of Victoria “Vicki” Ama Garvin
Dayo F. Gore
4 Shirley Graham Du Bois: Portrait of the Black 95
Woman Artist as a Revolutionary
Gerald Horne and Margaret Stevens
5 “A Life History of Being Rebellious”: 115
The Radicalism of Rosa Parks
Jeanne Theoharis
6 Framing the Panther: 138
Assata Shakur and Black Female Agency
Joy James
v
vi Contents
7 Revolutionary Women, Revolutionary Education: 161
The Black Panther Party’s Oakland Community School
Ericka Huggins and Angela D. LeBlanc-Ernest
8 Must Revolution Be a Family Affair? 185
Revisiting The Black Woman
Margo Natalie Crawford
9 Retraining the Heartworks:
Women in Atlanta’s Black Arts Movement 205
James Smethurst
10 “Women’s Liberation or . . . Black Liberation, 223
You’re Fighting the Same Enemies”: Florynce
Kennedy, Black Power, and Feminism
Sherie M. Randolph
11 To Make That Someday Come: 248
Shirley Chisholm’s Radical Politics of Possibility
Joshua Guild
12 Denise Oliver and the Young Lords Party: 271
Stretching the Political Boundaries of Struggle
Johanna Fernández
13 Grassroots Leadership and Afro-Asian Solidarities: 294
Yuri Kochiyama’s Humanizing Radicalism
Diane C. Fujino
14 “We Do Whatever Becomes Necessary”: 317
Johnnie Tillmon, Welfare Rights, and Black Power
Premilla Nadasen
About the Contributors 339
Index 343
Acknowledgments
This book is dedicated to the women whose activism is the
subject of this collection. Through all manner of economic, physical, and
psychic repression, they continued to believe a different world was pos-
sible and worked tirelessly to make it so.
We would like to thank all the contributors to this book for their dedi-
cation to this project, their marvelous chapters that return the story of
women’s radicalism to the history of the postwar era, and the political
commitments that guide their work. Debbie Gershenowitz is the kind of
visionary editor all scholars wish for. She has been with us since the be-
ginning, and we are immensely grateful. Gabrielle Begue shepherded this
project through its myriad stages, a Herculean task for a collection with
fifteen authors. Despina P. Gimbel’s careful attention to detail guided this
book through production. Leroy Henderson agreed to allow us to use his
striking photo on the cover—an essay in and of itself. The Program in
Women’s Studies and the Shirley Chisholm Center at Brooklyn College
helped us hold a conference that brought us together for a productive two
days of discussion and reflection.
DFG, JT, and KW
A number of friends and colleagues have provided deep insight and un-
flagging support. In particular, my new work on Rosa Parks has only been
possible through a wide community of people who have impressed upon
me the need for this project and helped me see the radical Rosa in new
ways. Infinite gratitude goes to Gaston Alonso, Susan Artinian, Adina
Back, Matthew Countryman, Emilye Crosby, Prudence Cumberbatch,
Johanna Fernandez, Arnold Franklin, Brenna Greer, Wesley Hogan, Ira
Katznelson, the Honorable Judge Damon Keith, Chana Kai Lee, Alejandra
Marchevsky, Karen Miller, Mojubaolu Okome, Annelise Orleck, Celina
Su, and the entire Theoharis family. Finally, in a profession that does not
always encourage collectivity, Dayo Gore and Komozi Woodard stand in
vii
viii Acknowledgments
stark contrast. They show me again and again the power of collaboration
in creating richer intellectual work and in modeling the kind of academy
we can be proud to be a part of.
JT
Vicki Garvin dedicated her life to the protracted struggle for liberation.
Her willingness, almost ten years ago, to share some of this history with
me has served as continued inspiration and motivation. My work on
Garvin has been greatly enriched by the insights of those who knew her.
Miranda Bergman and Lincoln Bergman have been unbelievably generous
with their support, sharing personal memories, responding to numerous
e-mails, and providing invaluable documentation of Vicki Garvin’s life. I
am also grateful to Thelma Dale for talking with me about her work and
friendship with Vicki, and to Ajamu Dillihunt and Dennis O’Neil.
Friends, colleagues, and loved ones have provided much needed pro-
fessional and personal support, as well as helpful insights as the project
has moved along. Thanks to the “Forbes Posse,” Jamila Gore and the
entire Gore family, Christina Hanhardt, Lili Kim, Andy Terranova, and
the faculty and staff of the Women’s Studies Program at the University
of Massachusetts–Amherst. Jeanne Theoharis and Komozi Woodard’s un-
wavering commitment to this project has been inspiring. Their generos-
ity and investment in the collective process serve as a powerful reminder
that scholarship—at its best—is grounded in community and exchange.
Finally, a special acknowledgment is due Arianne Miller. Her intellect, en-
couragement, and love have helped me to stay the course.
DFG
I mourn the loss of Vicki Garvin, Adina Back, Aunt Mary Woodward, and
Bonnie Shullenberger. Adina Back’s work on women in the black freedom
movement helps set the pace for this scholarship. And I mourn the loss
of Bonnie Shullenberger, who spent a rich life fighting for social justice.
Aunt Mary helped me understand the Long Black Renaissance. For me,
Vicki Garvin was the beginning of my insight into revolutionary women’s
history and the organizing tradition they fashioned for black liberation.
She was not only my teacher but also a comrade of Malcolm X, W. E. B.
Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Claudia Jones.
The Woodard family has always supported my intellectual develop-
ment, including the insights about history in this volume. My father, The-
odore Woodward, and my uncle, Thomas Woodward, listened and guided
Acknowledgments ix
me though my rethinking of black social history last year. My Sarah Law-
rence College community is always at the center of my intellectual work;
but special thanks goes to the yearlong class I taught, “Women in the
Black Revolt.” Alongside that class was the annual Women’s History con-
ference at Sarah Lawrence in March 2008, directed by Priscilla Murolo
and Tara James. In the Black liberation movement, the leading women
of the Congress of African People taught me some of my first lessons in
this history. Fannie Lou Hamer of SNCC was one of the earliest inspira-
tions that helped me understand a radical grassroots tradition pioneered
by Harriet Tubman and Ida B. Wells. And Vicki Garvin was my mentor in
teaching me the “hidden transcript” of the freedom struggle at a forma-
tive period in my life. And, finally, the sisters and brothers in the Solidar-
ity Club, including Sarah, Shamara, Brenda, Juliana, Florence, Anna, Sam,
Justin, Tariq, Amiri, and Jennifer, taught me that the struggle continues,
and that we will win liberation without a doubt.
Working with Jeanne Theoharis and Dayo Gore is one of the sweetest
joys in a writer’s life. And their hunger for freedom and thirst for justice
graces each page of this important book.
KW