Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump

by Duchess Harris

  Each of these three groups struggled with defining their priorities and determining their strategies accordingly. As the result of the pressures of political expediency, both external and internal, the groups were often forced to adhere to a single-item agenda, singling out race or gender or sexuality as the issue around which they would organize and act. While the Black feminist movement can be seen as evolving from the relatively liberal and single-minded focus on gender of the Kennedy Commission to the more radical and multifaceted focus on gender, race, class, and sexual orientation of the CRC, race work often trumped other aspects of individual and collective identity. I am not presuming that the predecessors of twenty-first-century Black feminism were solely concerned with race work, but as Jeanne Noble points out, the women of the PCSW , the NBFO, and the CRC all strategically deprioritized gender depending on available openings in the social movement and political opportunity structures. Later efforts were more successful, however, at integrating multiple issues into a single activist agenda. The later groups existed as a result of the efforts of the earlier ones; in fact, there was significant overlap in their membership. Furthermore, the ideological and strategic development among Black feminists coincided with the growth of the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Women’s Liberation movements, to which they made important contributions.

  Each new generation of Black feminists was more radical than the preceding one, and each new generation revitalized the organizational structure of its group to reflect a more progressive and more inclusive movement. The PCSW had been formal, convened as a panel of experts by a government entity, but the NBFO and the CRC were grassroots organizations that experimented with the structure of small consciousness-raising (CR) groups rather than the formation of large formal institutions. This model of organizational work sprung out of the experiences of the young participants, many of who came from middle-class backgrounds and had worked in the South in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) . Some of these Black feminists had also been members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and other radical student organizations in the North, thus, the structure or a grassroots organization with an activist bent was both familiar and transferable to the ideologies and missions of the emerging NBFO and CRC .

  Oral History as Evidence

  Oral histories and analysis of archival data are used here to document the evolution and activity of the PCSW , the NBFO, and the CRC . The minutes from the Negro Women’s Consultation for the PCSW were reviewed at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, and the minutes from the NBFO were provided by Margaret Sloan , the organization’s founding director. The minutes from the CRC retreats were provided by Gloria Akasha Hull , as were mission statements, pamphlets, and other unpublished materials. The Pauli Murray papers from the Schlesinger Library and materials from the Black Women’s Oral History Project provided additional valuable information, as did secondary sources, journal articles, and newspapers. The archival data are important because they contain the public records of these groups; however, one limitation is that these public statements often do not indicate the personal experiences and responses of the people involved.

  To fill this gap between the organizational histories and the personal histories of the women who comprised the organizations, oral histories were collected from 11 Black women who participated in these history-making groups. These interviews of Black women’s lived experiences are treated as primary sources in this book. Albert Memmi 2 has noted that what is central to race theory is the interpretation of differences and what inferences may be drawn from such differences. Taking Memmi’s suggestion, I asked the interviewees for their interpretations of political organizing between 1961 and 1980 and drew my own inferences from the transcripts. Like historian Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, 3 I found that race served as a “metalanguage” for the construction and representation of other social and power relations, namely those based on gender, class, and sexuality. Oral history becomes an important source of evidence because it allows us to examine what theorists have described as the particular epistemological position of Black women in American society, a position that sociologist Patricia Hill Collins refers to as the “outsider within.”4 Using a Black feminist theoretical framework to understand the roles of Black women allows us to determine whose knowledge defines Black women. According to C. S’thembile West,5 ontology is the essence of being: “How I be; Who I be; What I be; not how I am or who I am or what I am.”6 The Black woman must decide how she defines herself. To outsiders, this conjugation of the auxiliary verb “be” appears to be improper grammar, but West argues that only the Black woman can tell us what is improper about her defining her being.

  If Black women reject others’ definitions of them, they must then define or redefine their own being and provide their own ontologies, or theories of being. Historically, Black women’s being has depended on the balance between self and community, for without the individual there is no community, and without the community there is no individual. Black women’s resistance to being defined by others is documented here through an examination of their personal narratives. Letters, autobiographies , oral histories , and personal narratives provide a rich source of data for understanding and interpreting Black feminists’ ontologies. Research that reveals the social, political , and economic context for these narratives provides the historical background for explaining Black feminist theory, which is thus grounded in Black women’s experiences.

  The narratives offered by the members of the three Black women’s groups included in this study—the Fourth Consultation of the PCSW , the NBFO, and the CRC —examine the transformation in Black feminist ideologies from the community organizing of the civil rights era to the preoccupation with the politics of identity in the 1970s and 1980s.

  Enter JFK: The Formation of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women

  By the time the 1960 presidential campaign began, John F. Kennedy’s clear liberal theme—his exhortation to “get the country moving again”7—resonated strongly for many Americans, and Black Americans in particular. During Kennedy’s campaign for the presidency, the Black community’s political power was demonstrated in the election of five Blacks to the House of Representatives and Kennedy’s own crucial margin of votes in his narrow victories in Illinois, Michigan, and South Carolina. Once Kennedy was in office, he began to implement programs to address the problems American society was confronting. One of the central issues in Kennedy’s social justice agenda was addressing the racial divide that existed, and, in particular, to rectify the historical exclusion of Black women within the national agenda.

  When President Kennedy entered office, his national reform agenda did not include women; however, a well-developed program concerning and involving women—one that squared with the President’s own views and the rest of the liberal agenda—emerged from a coalition led by the administration’s Women’s Bureau. Kennedy’s ties to the progressive labor community made him especially receptive to the coalition’s plan of action; the internal politics of Kennedy’s administration gave a particular shape to the development of a strategy of which the PCSW was the centerpiece. Ideas for what came to be called the Kennedy Commission came from many sources. The New York Business and Professional Women’s Clubs had written to the President on inauguration day to request the creation of a panel to discuss utilization of mature women’s skills. Kennedy turned the letter over to Esther Peterson , director of the Women’s Bureau, who replied that a similar plan was already being considered. In addition to Peterson’s vigorous support, Katherine Ellickson , formerly assistant director of the Social Security Department of the AFL-CIO, and Dollie Rowther Robinson , a longtime union employee at the Women’s Bureau, pressed the President for the establishment of a commission specific to the concerns of women. Robinson, a Black woman, urged that the President expresses the same concern for women’s opportunities as he had about racial discrimination, and she argued that the commission would be such a vehicle
. Labor Secretary Arthur Goldberg took the women’s plan to the President.

  Although ideas for the President’s Commission came from many areas, it was, above all, the brainchild of labor union women. Because the labor movement had a history of attempting to achieve goals for women at least partially through federal legislation and executive action, a presidential commission seemed to be an appropriate avenue for change to Peterson and her colleagues. Kennedy, more closely allied to the labor movement than his immediate predecessors, heeded the voice of a woman with a labor union background instead of one with political debts to repay. As a result, in 1961 federal policy toward women veered in a new direction.

  The PCSW and NOW : Precursors to NBFO and Combahee

  Women have basic rights that should be respected and fostered as part of our Nation’s commitment to human dignity, freedom and democracy. It is appropriate… to set forth before the world the story of women’s progress in a free democratic society, to review recent accomplishments, and to acknowledge frankly the further steps that must be taken.

  This is a task for the entire nation. It is my hope that the Commission’s report will indicate what remains to be done to demolish prejudices and outmoded customs which act as barriers to the full partnership of women in democracy. The Commission will welcome recommendations from all groups on this crucial matter. Progress will require the cooperation of the whole community.

  President John F. Kennedy , December 14, 1961

  The labor women’s proposal was approved by President Kennedy and the PCSW was convened into being by executive order in December, 1961, a full four years before the moment historians mark as the beginning of the feminist movement. The establishment of the PCSW was significant because it not only represented a tangible sign of concern about women’s issues from the highest authority in the land, but it would also pave the way for significant policy and program legislation that would have a dramatic impact on women’s political involvement. The enactment of equal pay legislation in 1963 and the passage of fair treatment and non-discrimination laws as codified in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 are just two examples of the long-term implications of the work that was performed by the women of the PCSW in 1961. The creation of the PCSW gave a new legitimacy to the struggle against discrimination based on sex. As Betty Friedan wrote in 1963,the very existence of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, under Eleanor Roosevelt’s leadership, creates a climate where it is possible to recognize and do something about discrimination against women, in terms not only of pay but of subtle barriers to opportunity.8

  The members of the PCSW initiated a national discussion that continued into the 1990s.

  The membership of the PCSW and its subsidiary bodies represented many constituencies. Fifteen women served with eleven men on the commission itself, with ten members of the commission coming from the federal government, including the Attorney General, the Chairman of the Civil Services Commission, and the secretaries of Commerce, Agriculture, Labor, and Health, Education, and Welfare . The director of the Women’s Bureau, Esther Peterson , along with Labor Secretary Arthur Goldberg , oversaw the selection procedures, choosing members from women’s organizations, labor unions, educational institutions, and governmental agencies to supply more than 120 participants for the commission and its seven technical committees. No official of the National Women’s Party was invited to join the commission, although Peterson did include two women identified with the pro-ERA National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs. Recognizing that a commission without ERA support would lack credibility, Peterson cleared the way for the two aforementioned groups’ participation by omitting a statement of purpose indicating a preconceived position on the amendment.9

  The PCSW considered four topics to be of particular importance and focused its energies on addressing these issues in its meetings: private employment opportunities , new patterns of volunteer work, portrayals of women by the media, and the problems of Negro women. The inclusion of the last topic reflected the Commission’s acknowledgment of the problems of dual discrimination borne by Black women. This acknowledgment was promising, but the promise was ultimately not born out: The written report that represented the culmination of the PCSW’s work failed to incorporate the resulting recommendations.

  The Fourth Consultation

  The Fourth Consultation brought together educators, editors of Black magazines, representatives of the New York Urban League, and government officials. Although the Black women who participated on the commission were in no way economically or educationally representative of most Black women, their voices were relevant and their agendas were significant. One of the most compelling figures of the PCSW’s subcommittee on the problems of Negro women was the Chair of the Fourth Consultation, Dorothy Height . Height, who was born in Richmond, Virginia on March 24, 1912, had an interesting background in professional development and activism that prepared her to understand and convey some of the unique needs of American black women. During her formative years, her family moved to Rankin, Pennsylvania. After completing Rankin High School, Height applied to Barnard, a women’s college, in New York City. She was informed by the school, however, that they already had two Black students and therefore she would have to wait a term or more.10 Rather than suffer the wait, Ms. Height opted to attend New York University. She graduated in 1924 after three years of study and received her master’s degree in educational psychology the following year. Height became an investigator for the New York City Department of Welfare and eventually rose to the position of district supervisor. One of the first elected officers of the United Christian Youth Movement and active in the Harlem Christian Youth Council, Height participated in a select planning group with Eleanor Roosevelt for the 1938 World Youth Congress. Her long affiliation with the YWCA began in 1937 when she became the assistant director of the Emma Ransom House in Harlem. Later, as the executive director of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA in Washington, DC, her involvement in the 1947 YWCA Convention led to the adoption of its first interracial charter; she thereafter became director of the YWCA’s Center for Racial Justice.

  In 1947 Dr. Height became the national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority , Inc. During the nine years she held the position, according to Paula Giddings ’ history of the organization, “neither the direction nor the substance of the initiatives changed under her leadership, but the breadth and interest in them did.”11 Under her leadership, the sorority started a bookmobile to serve Black communities in Georgia and held a series of nationally broadcast town meetings. In 1950, Height organized the sorority’s first international chapter in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

  Dr. Height’s leadership was not limited to the already impressive resume with local organizations in New York City and the presidency of the sorority, however. Height’s affiliation with the National Council of Negro Women began in the 1930s, and she eventually became President in 1957; she still held this position when she chaired the Fourth Consultation. The council, created by Mary McLeod Bethune , was conceived as a means of uniting women from disparate groups, as well as those who did not identify with any social or political organization, with the ambitious goal of representing the “national and international concerns of black women.”12 The organization voiced concerns for protective labor legislation and in 1964 went on record opposing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) . One member warned against the council’s being led astray by the promise of equal rights: “We are being rocked to sleep by a trick phrase—one dear to us and to under-privileged groups, therefore calculated to dull our ability for discriminating between what is good and what appears to be good.”13 Although the NCNW adopted a position against support of the ERA, Dorothy Height was herself in favor of the ERA .

  Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the National Council of Negro Women attempted to be aware of its position as an organization that would benefit all Black people. Although Height had served as a member on the US Department of Defense Advisory Comm
ittee on Women in the Services during World War II,14 during the peak of the civil rights movement, her concerns for women as a group became subordinate to her concerns for Black rights. Under her direction, the NCNW worked primarily to promote a new concept of equality for Black women, reflecting the approach taken by the Kennedy Commission .

  Height was interested in the way in which the PCSW framed its approach to discussing equality. She observed that the PCSW treated women not as a political cause, but as integral players in political and social life whose opinions and ideas needed to be heard and integrated into the dominant discourse. The Fourth Consultation addressed the Black woman specifically, acknowledging in its discussions that virtually every form of discrimination affected Black women more severely than white women. Among extant written materials is a paper penned by the members that described how pending PCSW recommendations, such as the extension of minimum wage laws, would assist minority women in particular. Other matters for which the women of the advocated were better, Black-run community programs and the inclusion of Afro-American history and culture in the elementary school curriculum to provide role models for Black children. The participants also raised an objection to the idea of forcing mothers who received Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) to work outside the home. In general, the consultation revealed that the Black women considered racial bias, not sex discrimination, their major handicap. Despite the fact that the Commission recognized the special hardships of Black women, it rejected an analogy between discrimination and remedies based on racism and those based on sex bias.