Tells the stories and documents the contributions of African American women involved in the struggle for racial and gender equality through the civil rights and black power movements in the United States. Women were at the forefront of the civil rights struggle, but their individual stories were rarely heard. Only recently have historians begun to recognize the central role women played in the battle for racial equality. This book represents the coming age of African-American women's history and presents stories that point the way to future study. Acknowledgments xi Introduction: In the Whip of the Whirlwind 1(8) PART I: Laying the Groundwork: African American Women and Civil Rights Before 1950 9(50) ``Closed Doors'': Mary McLeod Bethune on Civil Rights 11(10) Introduction Elaine M. Smith Mary McLeod Bethune For the Race in General and Black Women in Particular: The Civil Rights Activities of African American Women's Organizations, 1915--50 21(21) V. P. Franklin Bettye Collier-Thomas Behind-the-Scenes View of a Behind-the-Scenes Organizer: The Roots of Ella Baker's Political Passions 42(17) Barbara Ransby PART II: Personal Narratives 59(34) ``Tired of Giving In'': The Launching of the Montgomery Bus Boycott 61(14) Rosa Parks ``Heirs to a Legacy of Struggle'': Charlayne Hunter Integrates the University of Georgia 75(8) Charlayne Hunter Gault ``We Wanted the Voice of a Woman to Be Heard'': Black Women and the 1963 March on Washington 83(10) Dorothy I. Height PART III: Women, Leadership, and Civil Rights 93(78) ``We Seek to Know . . . in Order to Speak the Truth'': Nurturing the Seeds of Discontent---Septima P. Clark and Participatory Leadership 95(26) Jacqueline A. Rouse African American Women in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party 121(18) Vicki Crawford Anger, Memory, and Personal Power: Fannie Lou Hamer and Civil Rights Leadership 139(32) Chana Kai Lee PART IV: From Civil Rights to Black Power: African American Women and Nationalism 171(86) ``Chronicle of a Death Foretold'': Gloria Richardson, the Cambridge Movement, and the Radical Black Activist Tradition 174(23) Sharon Harley Black Women and Black Power: The Case of Ruby Doris Smith Robinson and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 197(17) Cynthia Griggs Fleming ``Ironies of the Saint'': Malcolm X, Black Women, and the Price of Protection 214(16) Farah Jasmine Griffin ``No One Ever Asks What a Man's Role in the Revolution Is'': Gender Politics and Leadership in the Black Panther Party, 1966--71 230(27) Tracye A. Matthews PART V: Law, Feminism, and Politics 257(76) ``Joanne Is You and Joanne Is Me'': A Consideration of African American Women and the ``Free Joan Little'' Movement, 1974--75 259(21) Genna Rae McNeil From the Kennedy Commission to the Combahee Collective: Black Feminist Organizing, 1960--80 280(26) Duchess Harris The Civil Rights---Black Power Legacy: Black Women Elected Officials at the Local, State, and National Levels 306(27) Linda Faye Williams Selected Bibliography 333(10) Permissions 343(2) Contributors 345(4) Index 349