Another common goal of women's clubs was to bring more social justice into American society. Thus, women's clubs worked to implement factory inspection laws, to place limits on the number of hours in the working day, to eliminate child labor, to institute the juvenile justice system, and to raise the minimum age for compulsory education. African American women's clubs fought against lynching, racial segregation, and discrimination. Catholic and Jewish women's clubs attracted women of those faiths who may not have felt comfortable in other women's clubs; these women were able to work for social justice within their organizations, which also paid special attention to the problems encountered by the particular religious group.
Margaret Sites on 03 Nov 10The M.I. King Library has already preserved some oral histories pertaining to Lexington's black churches during the civil rights movement: Harry Sykes: "Sykes recalls church involvement in the civil rights marches in Lexington and discusses his chairmanship of the Commission on Religion and Human Rights in the early 1960s." Robert Jefferson: "He details the role of the African American church in the community and during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and discusses his rejection of the non-violent faction of the movement." Albert Lee: "Reverend Lee discusses the role of the church in the African American community and the effects of segregation in Lexington." etc. There are tons of relevant interviews to be explored, most conducted with reverends. I only see ONE interview conducted with a woman about churches and the civil rights movement, perhaps a hole we could fill?
