Group items tagged

Woman had key roles in civil rights movement is an article on msnbc.com which discuses what we have been discussing in class. How woman with in the civil rights movement are largely unknown and remained in the background. It names several woman involved nationally in civil rights including Ella Baker, Septima Poinsetta Clark, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Vivian Jones.

I think this article reiterates exactly what our class has been talking about how women were overlooked and more behind the scenes in this movement. The women were not really given the credit they deserve and this article realizes that and touches on important aspects that our class has talked about.

A great article highlighting some of the behind the scenes roles of women. It also describes how many women, which were involved in the movement are still unknown. 

This article on Rosa Parks was conducted in 1996, many years after her role in the civil rights movement. She talks about her role in the movement and the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955. She also reflects on the changes in our country since that period in time. Mrs. Parks still believes that many things are still in need of change to become the great country that the United States could one day be. She says that more young children need to be exposed to what the civil rights movement was like. I chose to write about this article because Mrs. Parks had such a big influence in the civil rights movement and started the Montgomery bus boycott. December first is also the 55th anniversary of when Mrs. Parks refused to get out of her seat and started a revolution of organized resistance in the civil rights movement. What she did led to many other things such as, sit-ins, marches, and her action opened the civil rights movement up for more people to be a part of it. My opinion of this article is that it shows that there was more to the story of Rosa Parks than just a tired woman not willing to give up her seat on a bus. I found this article educational and inspiring, and it also shed a new light on the civil rights movement for me.

Another great article explaining the behind the scenes roles of black women in the civil rights movement. Also, this includes some of the more famous of these women. 

``After the bus boycott got going and (Martin Luther) King got involved, they wouldn't even let Rosa Parks speak at the first mass meeting,'' she said. ``She asked to speak, and one of the ministers said he thought she had done enough.'' That is so insanely demeaning! I wonder who in the movement was propagating that repression of women's voices, MLK himself seemed very willing to engage women, at least in the Anne Braden reading. Great article, i agree.

In 1993 and 1994, Bill McCann interviewed 35 men - including several governors - about the KY Jaycees ten years after women had been admitted to this civic organization dedicated to mentoring and supporting young leaders at the local level. No transcripts are available for us to peruse and see if they spoke about the role of women in this prestigious local club.

Gov. Martha Layne Collins "She not only turned out to be a strong governor but also was a real mentor to the many young women who saw her as a role model and are now today in public service. I count myself among them."

These articles can help gain insight of The Girl Scout's roles during the civil rights era.

Betsy Brinson, Civil Rights in KY project director for KY Oral HIstory Commission, interviewed Audrey Grevious of Lexington at her home in Fayette County, April 13, 1999. A powerful storyteller and great educator, Grevious is generous in her oral history interview though she tries to downplay the fact that she played a major role in the local civil rights movement here in central Kentucky. From KHS catalog "Audrey Grevious speaks of her early education in Black schools which led her to become a teacher. She also became an activist, and, as President of the Lexington NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) together with Julia Lewis, President of Lexington CORE (Congress on Racial Equality) led a movement to challenge segregation in employment, and public accommodations. She notes the involvement of maids and non-profession people and the scarcity of ministers, with the exception of Rev. W.A. Jones, Historic Pleasant Green Baptist Church. When school integration came to Lexington, she tells how the Black students and teachers lost out."

Always fun to see the debates about who is "first" or not... ! Has more to do with men's history than women's but you'll get some ideas about women's roles in Baptist Churches in Lexington.

This is really helpful background info!

Interesting article on how gender remains today an important category of analysis in women's political participation and public leadership roles in the US.

This UW prof summarizes this history book that shows the importance of SSOC in educating Southern white students about civil rights - when most civil rights histories have focused on the roles of Southern blacks or Northern whites.

Here are some pictures of a few people that I have been given contact information. Miss Parrish past October 1st, 2010. She was the great grand daughter of co-founder of the Kentucky Female Orphan School James Parrish.

The 2010 Midway Living History Day is Sat. October 30th from noon to 4:30pm.

The 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?

This article written by Catherine Fosl, the author of "Subversive Southerner", offers another account into the life of Anne Braden. However, this journal focuses more on Anne Braden's book "The Wall Between" and what role her and her husband played in helping the Wades, a black family, move into a white neighborhood.

HUGE list of web links for KY Woman's Clubs

Why am i researching movements in the church? For me it's a way to get inside and understand opinions of the time, since it was not my lifetime. I'm considering some social/civil opinions to be influenced by which church you belonged to or creed followed.