1. During the civil rights movement it was very clear that women had a huge impact and roles. They often served as very important strategists and organizers. It also helped them to step into roles that were not previously allowed to women due to societal expectations. While many women’s contributions were overshadowed by male figures and the movements narrative, there were many names that made a name such as Rosa Parks, Diane Nash, and Septima Clark. All participated in boycotts, protests, sit ins, and voter registration drives which helped contribute to the success. In an interview with Willa Robinson conducted by Malinda Maynor, they focused on how she as an African American woman was raised in the rural south of North Carolina. “She never knew she was black and poor until it was told me in high school. She attended segregated schools until her dismissal from school in the eleventh grade because she got married.” (page 7) While Willa details many racial things that happened to her during this era was when she had the realization, she was losing her white friend solely because she was black. “Fine with me,” but it broke my heart. But I said to her, I said, “Fine with me.” So that’s when I realized that I was black, and she was white, and we could not be friends any longer because her parents wouldn’t allow it.” (page 9) She also details a horrific night when her family had to deal with the KKK. “Then she started telling me stories about how she used to have to sit on the porch at night with the gun to protect my grandfather from the Ku Klux Klan because he was black. They wouldn’t bother her, but they wanted him. And they’d tell her, “Why are you always sitting on the porch? We came after Emanuel. We don’t want you.” (page 9) I thought that was very interesting because it also highlighted what it was really like to live in the deep rural south during an era where it was fight for your rights. Another thing I learned that I thought was interesting was the National Council of Negro Women and the tentative by laws they created. Mary McLeod Bethune was the main person in charge of the council. She constantly gave her goals, strategies, and organization to the New Deals. It helped give a rapid spread to agencies and an oversight of her many efforts and how wasted potential starts. With the council she managed to give African Americans educational circles and give the women’s club activities. She helped shape black women’s educational circles and race work.
2. After this week’s readings, I have learned that women were not just watchers, but they were crucial leaders, organizers, and strategists. Women were working hard in the front lines and played pivotal roles in ensuring things like boycotts and protests were possible. During this movement it is often men like Martin Luther King Jr. that are thought of, when really women’s roles were just as important and an example of this would be “few women appear as significant leaders and actors in this traditional master narrative” (1). Also in Murray’s writing she states “During the height of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, women participated in greater numbers than men in some areas like the Mississippi Delta, yet leadership positions and public rhetoric remained within the male purview” (1). This also goes to show how women were there and helping out and fighting and making a difference, but they were kept out of major roles of leadership so they didn’t get the credit they really deserved for all of their efforts and hard work during the Civil Rights Movement. Their roles that turned out to be very important were often overlooked and downplayed. They also faced continued sexism which only contributed to the problem. Overall, though, women’s contributions broadened the movement’s impact.