The civil rights movement was a succession of political protests in the United States that sought to bring racial equality before the law. In many instances, the protesters used nonviolent acts in enhancing the emancipation of women and the rights of minorities. Despite the fact that many women played a significant role in leading the local civil rights groups and volunteering as lawyers on school segregation suits, their efforts were overshadowed by men who got more attention and credit for the popular historical process in the US.
Many women suffered from sexual discrimination and gender-based discrimination within the movement a fact that forced them to establish the feminist movement in the 1970s.Some of the notable women who took part in the struggle include Lonnie King, Ekhueme Michael, Gwendolyn, Zoharas, Doris Adelaide, Ruby Neil among other women who were not recognized but played a phenomenal role in the fighting for the rights of the minorities (Moon, 2011).
During the Washington march on August 28, 1963, thousands of women took part in the protests. However, none of the female civil rights leaders was invited to speak to the crowd nor march in the procession with Martin Luther King Jr.According to Evans (2010), women were asked to march in an adjacent street together with the wives of the prominent male civil rights leaders despite the fact that women leaders are the ones who took a center stage in planning the tactics, actions and strategies for the movement.
Daisy Bates
In 1957, Daisy Bates was inspirational in the integration of the Central high school in Arkansas. Bates recruited six girls and three boys who were chosen by the court desegregate the school. In the early days, white mobs staged demonstrations at the school, hurling insults and threatening violence against the black students. However, the federal government through the use of the US army showed support for the integration of blacks in the whites dominated schools by providing security to the black students. The execution of the Little Rock Nine strategy by Daisy Bates was one of the eminent contributions of the American women in the fighting for the rights of the marginalized groups.
Fannie Lou Hamer
The immense contribution of Fannie Lou Hamer in the civil rights movement cannot be ignored.Hamer was a co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She was deeply committed to fighting to the rights of the African-Americans who were not allowed to participate in the electoral process. Such activities were met with resistance in the Deep South during the period. Also, Hamer is known for singing hymns to the people who were putting their lives in danger by registering black voters.
In July 1963, Hamer and other civil rights activists were attacked by the police on their way from a workshop. Despite this brutal ordeal, Hamer continued with her advocacy initiatives including the organization of the summer campaigns. Also, she attended the 1964 Democratic National Convention in the capacity of the Vice President of the Mississippi Freed Democrats. The rationale of attending the convention was to challenge the anti-civil right and the all-white delegation as being non-representative of the Mississippi Democrats. The efforts of the Member and her colleagues drew the national attention, and her liberation speech was aired on the state television
Dorothy Height
The National Council of Negro Women was synonymous with Dorothy Height.Holsaert (2010) reiterates that Height was among few women who held powerful national position and sustained it through the entire Civil Rights movement. She used her position together with the support of the eminent persons in the government to forge systems and institutions for change. Height strategically established synergy between her career and emancipation of the minorities in the American society.
Among Heights achievements were the coordination and the integration of the YMCA facilities in 1964.She also cofounded the Center for Racial Justice in the 1960s that was critical in bringing together both black and white women in Mississippi for conversations on civil rights issues and to increase understanding of the importance of having an inclusive society. Her enormous contribution in the fight for the human rights earned her accolade as one of the "Big Six" although even with her influence and association with the prominent activists like Martin Luther King JR., she was not given a chance to speak during the Washington March of 1964.
Septima Clark
Septima Clark was gained recognition with the Human Rights movement through her work in the Citizenship Schools. Her ability to link social reforms with the educational advancement earned her considerable prominence within the movement. Also, she was a great grassroots mobilize. This is seen in her ability to influence change not only at the national level but also within the local communities (Kelly, 2015).
Clark started participating in activism while she was working as a teacher on the Johns Island, a sea island that was off the South Carolina Coast. Clarke went to teach in the Island because she was denied a chance by the law from teaching in the city schools (Moon, 2011).It was during her teaching career at the Island where she developed the pedagogy for teaching illiterate adults basing on their real life experiences and needs instead of a curriculum that featured the pictures of the white children and their pets.
Also, the activism of Clarke extended to working with Thurgood Marshall and NAACP. Through her effort, the federal government decided to equalize the salary for black and white teachers. Although Clarke’s activism got resistance from the white dominated society,her victory was termed as a social action that challenged the status quo in the teaching profession. Later, she paid the price for her enormous contribution in teaching for forty years by being fired after disobeying the state law that prohibited her membership in the NAACP (Evans, 2010).
After losing her Job, Clark was hired by the Myles Harton at the Highlander as the director of workshops. While at the institution, she established the Citizenship Schools Program. Later in 1975, she was elected to be a member of the Charleston school board by the same body that dismissed her as a teacher. Clark’s exemplary performance at the institution made the Governor of the South Carolina to restore her retirement benefits that she lost when she was dismissed on the grounds of involvement in the civil rights movements. Clark’s exceptional leadership at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Highlander had an insightful impact on the movement. This is because she managed to nature people and leaders, activists and community residents a fact that enhanced the development of an infrastructure for resistance and activist.
Furthermore, Holsaert (2010) reiterates that Clark used the citizenship schools for preparing blacks for the civil right movement. This is shown by the fact that prominent civil rights leaders like Fannie Hamer were his students at the Citizenship Schools. Also, Clark was a talented public speaker who had the ability to motivate and inspire hostile groups of people including men who felt that women should not have a voice in the society. She managed to bring men on board in the fighting against the rights of the women and the marginalized groups in the United States.
Ella Baker
The concept of the peaceful nonviolence was developed by Ella Baker. Although she was a bit older, she was able to interact with the youths seamlessly to bridge the generational gap and the social class. Moon (2011) opines that Baker was inspired by the nonviolent students African-American protests at the segregated Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro. The protests sparked a sit-in movement in South Carolina that eventually spread to other colleges in the Southern states. Despite the fact that many students who participated in the sit –ins were arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct; their actions made a lasting impact that forced the Woolworths's and other eateries to change their segregation policies.
Beker decided to leave the SCLC, which she helped to establish, to organize students’ leaders into the famous Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee. Her commitment to supporting and motivate youths earned her respect among the youthful activists and civil rights workers who constantly referred to her as a mentor. As a collaborative leader, Baker managed to inspire people to develop innovative and revolutionary ideas that could spur change.
Before working with Martin Luther King JR., Baker worked as a field secretary for the NAACP.Her primary role was to get people to understand that they had they had an inalienable power that they can use to champion for their rights. However, these could only be achieved if they were cognizance of what is happening in the society and how the group action could counter violence (Kelly, 2015).
As a visionary leader, Baker always encouraged the youths to focus on the future and not to be destructed by their past limitations. Baker's expansive view of participatory democracy was critical in inspiring change among the youths who participated in the Civil rights movement. She trusted a group-centered leadership and the wisdom of the ordinary people. According to Holsaert (2010) Barker believed that change is only possible through the involvement of the grassroots population. Besides, she was a proponent of direct actions as a sole answer for alienation and fear.
Jean Fairfax
Jean Fairfax was a renowned philanthropist who had a shared focus on education as a tool for enhancing social justice. A study by Moon (2011) highlights that Jean Fairfax was directly involved in the civil rights movement, having served as a director of the NAACP‘s Legal Defense and Education Fund in Southern Virginia. At this time, there was a struggle for school integration in Prince Edwards County a fact that saw schools closed for five years to protest against desegregation. Fairfax helped in the organization of an outplacement program for 70 black American students to continue with their studies in integrated schools in eight states that had abolished segregated schools. Also, she coordinated a team that organized for a court-ordered integration of schools in Southern Virginia.
Jean together with her sister Betty Fairfax inspired the black Americans to follow their example. They used a portion of the financial investment that they inherited from their parents to establish the inner-city education in Phoenix. They developed the philosophy of using limited resources to stimulate large-scale change. They provided scholarships to students who enrolled in various courses in the Kent state University. Although the Fairfax sisters are not widely known outside the civil rights circles, and philanthropy, their efforts for stimulating change among the black community was recognized by the Twenty-First Century Foundation, an organization that gives recognition to people who are committed to enhancing the welfare of the Blacks in The US.
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Eleanor Holmes Norton, who s currently the Congressional Delegate for the District of Columbia had a distinguished career as a civil rights leader and activist. After completing a degree in law from the Antioch College in, Norton worked as a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizer together with Fannie Hamer and Medgar Evers.Besides, she took part in the Washington march together with Martin Luther and was in the forefront during the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964.
Norton fought for the rights of George Wallace; the former Alabama Governor to stage a rally at New York City's Shea Stadium when she was the Attorney for the American Civil Liberties. Her exemplary performance in civil rights affairs earned her a job as the head of the New York’s Commission on Human Rights in 1970. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter also appointed her to as the first female to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Rosa Park
Rosa Park played a critical role in the Montgomery bus boycott that was viewed by Moon (2011) as a determining event in the Civil Rights Movement. The Boycott was a social and political protest against the racial segregation policy on the Montgomery Public transport system in Alabama. The demonstrations started in December 1955 when Rosa Parks, a black woman was detained for refusing to give up his bus seat to a white man. The mass protest ended when the US Supreme Court gave a ruling that the segregation policy of the Montgomery public bus services was unconstitutional.Mrs. Parks got tribute for her impeccable character that saw the bus company review is segregation policies to accommodate the demands of the African Americans.
Conclusion
Women leaders during the Civil Rights movement made significant contributions in the development and changing of oppressive systems that did not accommodate the rights of minorities in the American society. Despite the fact that women leaders received less recognition as compared to their counterparts for their efforts in the civil rights movement, the role of the women in the emancipation of the marginalized groups in the US cannot be ignored.
Considerable progress has been realized in the US due to the involvement of women in the civil rights movement. For instance, the racial schools were abolished in the southern states due to immense contribution of women educators and lawyers who petitioned the schools to admit black students. Also, women were integral in the development of the nonviolent students movement that fought for the rights of the minorities. Furthermore, many women paid the price for their commitment to spur change in the US. For instance, some got arrested as the case of the Montgomery bus boycott while others lost their jobs.
References
Evans, S. (2010).Personal politics: The roots of women's liberation in the civil rights movement and the new left. London: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Holsaert, F. (2010). Hands on the freedom plow: Personal accounts by women in SNCC.Illinois.University of Illinois Press.
Kelley.L.S. (2015). Inspiring African-American women of the civil rights movement: 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries. New York: Xlibris Corporation.
Moon, D. (2011). Daily life of women during the civil rights era. New York: ABC-CLIO.
