Saleha Erdmann :: Development Studies

In retrospect: Racism in this country has many economic layers to it and affects the quality of life of all Americans, so I think it is important to include race in a discussion on development in the United States. This paper addresses women of color in particular, in the civil rights movement--which was an important historical era in American development. This paper is also about development because I discuss forms of education and political empowerment, which are aspects of development.

Black Female Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement

Soc/An 244--Arndt, Spring 2005

During the 1950’s and 60’s few people recognized the dynamics of gender playing out within the civil rights movement. It is only in retrospect that scholars are just now beginning to acknowledge the important, and often unique, ways that women contributed to the movement and also the significant ways in which their participation was limited. Morris (1984) states that it was the educated, black, male clergyman that held the most power in the civil rights movement because of his, “personal persuasiveness…his considerable control over the collective resources of the church” and charisma (7). Indeed, it was those leaders who were the most visible. However, there were many leaders outside of this elite group that did not fit the mold, they mainly operated on a grassroots level and were frequently women. Their contribution to the civil rights movement was no less important than that of people like Dr. King. Belinda Robnett (1997) writes in her groundbreaking book How Long? How Long?,

Gendered hierarchy and racial and class constraints, in additions to Black cultural norms, shaped the structures of the civil rights movement and defined the nature of activist participation, including those leaders in the grassroots sector (17).

The omission of female leadership in mainstream historical accounts of the civil rights movement creates two main problems: the obstacles to leadership faced by women are unrecognized and women leaders who did play significant roles—despite these obstacles, remain ignored or marginalized.

The image of a tired Rosa Parks sitting in the white section of the bus may be the most well-recognized representation of a black woman in the civil rights movement. This is a selective view of women in the movement. There were many powerful women whose faces should be seen just as often as Parks’. Parks herself was already very involved in the movement through the NAACP and grassroots activism—she was much more than a poor, tired woman who finally snapped (Morris 1984). Women like Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer and Septima Clark displayed extraordinary leadership and influence, but their forms of leadership were different from the well-known styles of Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy.

Efforts to appreciate the presence of black women in the civil rights movement often come under fire. Robnett writes that her work has been interpreted as “inherently divisive to the African-American community and to any analysis of gender as a white woman’s issue. Still others viewed the project as an attack on Dr. King and other notable Black male leaders” (4). While it is true that evaluating the civil rights movement by today’s standards of gender equality would be presentism, one cannot ignore the implicit social expectations that shaped the way black men and women moved within the movement. Robnett defends her attempt to make the voices of black women heard, “No account of history is adequate without inclusion of us all” (6).

Robnett creates a new theoretical framework for viewing leadership in the civil rights movement and social movements in general. She argues that there are two main kinds of leaders, formal leaders and bridge leaders. “The primary difference [between formal leaders and bridge leaders] is that formal leaders possess institutional and organizational power” (21). Formal leaders were highly visible, used mass mobilization and were positioned within a preexisting hierarchy of power—usually the church. Bridge leaders worked from vast social networks, used one-on-one relationships, and addressed the immediate needs of the people they worked with. Robnett calls them bridge leaders because they often acted as bridges between the larger organizational structures of the movement and local communities. “While formal leaders kept an eye on the state apparatus for opportunities and concessions, bridge leaders kept their hands on the pulse of the community” (28).

Even though participation of black women exceeded that of black men in the civil rights movement, they were underrepresented in formal leadership positions (Robnett 1997). Morris (1984) credits the extraordinary charisma that people like Dr. King possessed for their rise to leadership. Robnett criticizes Morris in particular for this argument. While charisma certainly was a factor, Dr. King and others also fit a certain acceptable profile in terms of race, class, sex, and cultural norms. If Dr. King had been female, Robnett points out, no amount of charisma could have skyrocketed him to the status he achieved. Fannie Lou Hamer, a well-known figure within the SNCC and beyond for her organizational expertise, oratory skill and charisma often entered the pulpit even thought she was not a minister (Kai Lee 2001). Despite her influence and presence, Hamer was not considered a leader, but an “organizer.”

Hamer and other women were crucial figures in the civil rights movement but experienced resistance to their leadership. Septima Clark, who founded a series of Citizenship Schools to educate poor, southern blacks so that they could vote, was pivotal in laying the foundation for the SCLC. Clark was one of few women who held titled leadership positions, but she was often frustrated by the way she was treated within these organizations. “I was just a figurehead…Whenever I had anything to say, I would put up my hand and say it. But I did know they weren’t paying attention” (cited in Payne 1995, p. 76). Clark also commented on the general expectation of women by male leaders, “Mrs. King and Mrs. Abernathy would come and they were just like chandeliers, shining lights, sitting up and saying nothing” (cited in Payne, p. 76). Ella Baker, perhaps the most well-known and significant black female leader in the movement also expressed frustration over her marginalization within the organizations she worked in (Payne 1995). She stated that

the combination of being a woman, and an older woman, presented some problems [in the SCLC]. Number one, I was old enough to be the mother of the leadership. The combination of the basic attitudes of men, and especially ministers, as to what the role of women in the church setups is—that of taking orders, not providing leadership—and the ego that is involved—the ego problems involved in having to feel that here is someone who had the capacity for a certain amount of leadership and, certainly, had more information about a lot of things than they possessed at that time—this would never have lent itself to my being a leader in the movement there (cited in Robnett 1997, p. 94).

The obstacles in place against women entering formal leadership roles channeled some talented women into the one option they had: bridge leadership (Robnett). In other words, gender constructs limited women to bridge leadership, resulting in an unusually strong grassroots sector. The strength of bridge leadership in the civil rights movement was crucial in maintaining its momentum and authenticity.

Bridge leaders operated with distinct styles, pioneered in particular by Clark and Baker. Ella Baker stated, “I have always thought what is needed is the development of people who are interested not in being leaders as much as in developing leadership in others” (cited in Payne 1995, p. 93). Both women believed in group-centered leadership, empowering poor people to help themselves, and were suspicious of large organizations that dictated what their followers should do. Payne (1995) writes of leaders like Baker and Clark that, “Including everyone in democracy meant that the common assumption that poor people had to be led by their social betters was anathema” (68).

Leaders like Clark and Baker are beginning to receive more of the credit that is long overdue to them. However, educated, male ministers still receive the most attention, even by critics of black resistance in general. In his book on infrapolitics, Race Rebels, Robin Kelley (1996) writes that the organized civil rights movement was dominated by elite and middle class blacks, who often ignored the poor. He maintains that the poor (“onlookers”) contributed to the movement through unorganized resistance that made the formal leaders of the movement uncomfortable. He writes that rioters who resisted alongside nonviolent protests were doing things “on their own terms” (88). However, while he is criticizing the marginalization of the poor by top leadership of the civil rights movement, Kelley himself marginalizes the contributions of bridge leaders—and therefore women—by ignoring the work they did to address the immediate issues facing the poor. Adolph Reed Jr. (2000) criticizes Kelley’s concept of infrapolitics as well as formal leadership. Reed writes that black organizations have become stuck in the “brokerage model of politics” in which political action claims to represent one unified black interest (4). It is likely that Baker and Clark would have sympathized with this argument. Reed writes,

The only possibly successful strategy in one based on genuinely popular, deliberate and concrete, interest-based organizing that connects with people’s daily lives (9).

What Reed does not recognize is that this type of movement did exist at one point—and very well may still exist today—under the guidance of several, mostly female, leaders.

Regardless of whether or not they are recognized by scholars, many black women played important roles in the civil rights movement. Robnett finds in her interviews with female civil rights activists and leaders that gender was not something most of them considered at the time, and that race was the primary issue. Today, these women are more aware of how gender affected their location within the movement because of their experience in the women’s liberation movement. Despite the obstacles to women, many of those interviewed maintain that the civil rights movement was an empowering thing for all participants, regardless of gender. The importance of the civil rights movement for all black people is undeniable, men and women alike benefited from the advancements it brought about and it bound black Americans together in its achievements. Recognizing discrimination against women within the movement may be a painful pill for many to swallow, but it is necessary. How can any group be truly liberated without recognizing half of its population? —A question we should not just ask of the civil rights movement, but all of America.

Works Cited

Kai Lee, Chana. 2001. “Anger, Memory, and Personal Power: Fannie Lou Hamer and Civil Rights Leadership.” In Bettye Collier-Thomas & V.P. Franklin, Eds. Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement. New York University Press: New York.

Kelley, Robin. 1996. Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class. The Free Press: New York.

Morris, Aldon. 1984. The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change. The Free Press: New York.

Payne, Charles. 1995. I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle. University pf California Press: Berkeley.

Reed, Adolph Jr. 2000. Classnotes: Posing As Politics and Other Thoughts on the American Scene. The New Press: New York.

Robnett, Belinda. 1997. How Long? How Long?: African-American Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights. Oxford University Press, Inc.: New York.

Development Studies: Socio-economic Development from an Interdisciplinary Perspective Saleha Erdmann
home my major basics of development life experience papers annotated bibliography development web web links senior project helpful people	Development Web: sociology/anthropology \| economics \| environmental \| politics \| justice
	In retrospect: Racism in this country has many economic layers to it and affects the quality of life of all Americans, so I think it is important to include race in a discussion on development in the United States. This paper addresses women of color in particular, in the civil rights movement--which was an important historical era in American development. This paper is also about development because I discuss forms of education and political empowerment, which are aspects of development. Black Female Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement Soc/An 244--Arndt, Spring 2005 During the 1950’s and 60’s few people recognized the dynamics of gender playing out within the civil rights movement. It is only in retrospect that scholars are just now beginning to acknowledge the important, and often unique, ways that women contributed to the movement and also the significant ways in which their participation was limited. Morris (1984) states that it was the educated, black, male clergyman that held the most power in the civil rights movement because of his, “personal persuasiveness…his considerable control over the collective resources of the church” and charisma (7). Indeed, it was those leaders who were the most visible. However, there were many leaders outside of this elite group that did not fit the mold, they mainly operated on a grassroots level and were frequently women. Their contribution to the civil rights movement was no less important than that of people like Dr. King. Belinda Robnett (1997) writes in her groundbreaking book How Long? How Long?, Gendered hierarchy and racial and class constraints, in additions to Black cultural norms, shaped the structures of the civil rights movement and defined the nature of activist participation, including those leaders in the grassroots sector (17). The omission of female leadership in mainstream historical accounts of the civil rights movement creates two main problems: the obstacles to leadership faced by women are unrecognized and women leaders who did play significant roles—despite these obstacles, remain ignored or marginalized. The image of a tired Rosa Parks sitting in the white section of the bus may be the most well-recognized representation of a black woman in the civil rights movement. This is a selective view of women in the movement. There were many powerful women whose faces should be seen just as often as Parks’. Parks herself was already very involved in the movement through the NAACP and grassroots activism—she was much more than a poor, tired woman who finally snapped (Morris 1984). Women like Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer and Septima Clark displayed extraordinary leadership and influence, but their forms of leadership were different from the well-known styles of Dr. King and Dr. Abernathy. Efforts to appreciate the presence of black women in the civil rights movement often come under fire. Robnett writes that her work has been interpreted as “inherently divisive to the African-American community and to any analysis of gender as a white woman’s issue. Still others viewed the project as an attack on Dr. King and other notable Black male leaders” (4). While it is true that evaluating the civil rights movement by today’s standards of gender equality would be presentism, one cannot ignore the implicit social expectations that shaped the way black men and women moved within the movement. Robnett defends her attempt to make the voices of black women heard, “No account of history is adequate without inclusion of us all” (6). Robnett creates a new theoretical framework for viewing leadership in the civil rights movement and social movements in general. She argues that there are two main kinds of leaders, formal leaders and bridge leaders. “The primary difference [between formal leaders and bridge leaders] is that formal leaders possess institutional and organizational power” (21). Formal leaders were highly visible, used mass mobilization and were positioned within a preexisting hierarchy of power—usually the church. Bridge leaders worked from vast social networks, used one-on-one relationships, and addressed the immediate needs of the people they worked with. Robnett calls them bridge leaders because they often acted as bridges between the larger organizational structures of the movement and local communities. “While formal leaders kept an eye on the state apparatus for opportunities and concessions, bridge leaders kept their hands on the pulse of the community” (28). Even though participation of black women exceeded that of black men in the civil rights movement, they were underrepresented in formal leadership positions (Robnett 1997). Morris (1984) credits the extraordinary charisma that people like Dr. King possessed for their rise to leadership. Robnett criticizes Morris in particular for this argument. While charisma certainly was a factor, Dr. King and others also fit a certain acceptable profile in terms of race, class, sex, and cultural norms. If Dr. King had been female, Robnett points out, no amount of charisma could have skyrocketed him to the status he achieved. Fannie Lou Hamer, a well-known figure within the SNCC and beyond for her organizational expertise, oratory skill and charisma often entered the pulpit even thought she was not a minister (Kai Lee 2001). Despite her influence and presence, Hamer was not considered a leader, but an “organizer.” Hamer and other women were crucial figures in the civil rights movement but experienced resistance to their leadership. Septima Clark, who founded a series of Citizenship Schools to educate poor, southern blacks so that they could vote, was pivotal in laying the foundation for the SCLC. Clark was one of few women who held titled leadership positions, but she was often frustrated by the way she was treated within these organizations. “I was just a figurehead…Whenever I had anything to say, I would put up my hand and say it. But I did know they weren’t paying attention” (cited in Payne 1995, p. 76). Clark also commented on the general expectation of women by male leaders, “Mrs. King and Mrs. Abernathy would come and they were just like chandeliers, shining lights, sitting up and saying nothing” (cited in Payne, p. 76). Ella Baker, perhaps the most well-known and significant black female leader in the movement also expressed frustration over her marginalization within the organizations she worked in (Payne 1995). She stated that the combination of being a woman, and an older woman, presented some problems [in the SCLC]. Number one, I was old enough to be the mother of the leadership. The combination of the basic attitudes of men, and especially ministers, as to what the role of women in the church setups is—that of taking orders, not providing leadership—and the ego that is involved—the ego problems involved in having to feel that here is someone who had the capacity for a certain amount of leadership and, certainly, had more information about a lot of things than they possessed at that time—this would never have lent itself to my being a leader in the movement there (cited in Robnett 1997, p. 94). The obstacles in place against women entering formal leadership roles channeled some talented women into the one option they had: bridge leadership (Robnett). In other words, gender constructs limited women to bridge leadership, resulting in an unusually strong grassroots sector. The strength of bridge leadership in the civil rights movement was crucial in maintaining its momentum and authenticity. Bridge leaders operated with distinct styles, pioneered in particular by Clark and Baker. Ella Baker stated, “I have always thought what is needed is the development of people who are interested not in being leaders as much as in developing leadership in others” (cited in Payne 1995, p. 93). Both women believed in group-centered leadership, empowering poor people to help themselves, and were suspicious of large organizations that dictated what their followers should do. Payne (1995) writes of leaders like Baker and Clark that, “Including everyone in democracy meant that the common assumption that poor people had to be led by their social betters was anathema” (68). Leaders like Clark and Baker are beginning to receive more of the credit that is long overdue to them. However, educated, male ministers still receive the most attention, even by critics of black resistance in general. In his book on infrapolitics, Race Rebels, Robin Kelley (1996) writes that the organized civil rights movement was dominated by elite and middle class blacks, who often ignored the poor. He maintains that the poor (“onlookers”) contributed to the movement through unorganized resistance that made the formal leaders of the movement uncomfortable. He writes that rioters who resisted alongside nonviolent protests were doing things “on their own terms” (88). However, while he is criticizing the marginalization of the poor by top leadership of the civil rights movement, Kelley himself marginalizes the contributions of bridge leaders—and therefore women—by ignoring the work they did to address the immediate issues facing the poor. Adolph Reed Jr. (2000) criticizes Kelley’s concept of infrapolitics as well as formal leadership. Reed writes that black organizations have become stuck in the “brokerage model of politics” in which political action claims to represent one unified black interest (4). It is likely that Baker and Clark would have sympathized with this argument. Reed writes, The only possibly successful strategy in one based on genuinely popular, deliberate and concrete, interest-based organizing that connects with people’s daily lives (9). What Reed does not recognize is that this type of movement did exist at one point—and very well may still exist today—under the guidance of several, mostly female, leaders. Regardless of whether or not they are recognized by scholars, many black women played important roles in the civil rights movement. Robnett finds in her interviews with female civil rights activists and leaders that gender was not something most of them considered at the time, and that race was the primary issue. Today, these women are more aware of how gender affected their location within the movement because of their experience in the women’s liberation movement. Despite the obstacles to women, many of those interviewed maintain that the civil rights movement was an empowering thing for all participants, regardless of gender. The importance of the civil rights movement for all black people is undeniable, men and women alike benefited from the advancements it brought about and it bound black Americans together in its achievements. Recognizing discrimination against women within the movement may be a painful pill for many to swallow, but it is necessary. How can any group be truly liberated without recognizing half of its population? —A question we should not just ask of the civil rights movement, but all of America. Works Cited Kai Lee, Chana. 2001. “Anger, Memory, and Personal Power: Fannie Lou Hamer and Civil Rights Leadership.” In Bettye Collier-Thomas & V.P. Franklin, Eds. Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement. New York University Press: New York. Kelley, Robin. 1996. Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class. The Free Press: New York. Morris, Aldon. 1984. The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change. The Free Press: New York. Payne, Charles. 1995. I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle. University pf California Press: Berkeley. Reed, Adolph Jr. 2000. Classnotes: Posing As Politics and Other Thoughts on the American Scene. The New Press: New York. Robnett, Belinda. 1997. How Long? How Long?: African-American Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights. Oxford University Press, Inc.: New York.
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