Womanpower Unlimited and the Black Freedom Struggle in Mississippi

Tiyi M. Morris's account of the work of Womanpower Unlimited (wu), a small Mississippi-based women's organization with a predominately African American membership, begins with an explanation of the invisibility of such groups in historical memory. For many black women, Morris asserts, taking care of their communities was simply “what Black women did; without fanfare or expecting praise” (p. 13). Morris's account of wu uncovers this vital communal work and provides important evidence of black women's activism, not only in Mississippi but also on a global stage. wu sprang up in Jackson in May 1961, when the formidable Claire Collins Harvey, local business owner and activist, joined a delegation of prominent black citizens determined to observe the trial of the young freedom riders who had been arrested in their city. Harvey was shocked by the physical vulnerability of the freedom riders she observed and rallied her allies to provide clothing and other personal items for them. From this small effort to demonstrate community support and maternal protection emerged wu, determined to wield the values of black women in support of the civil rights movement. While wu was a relatively short-lived group, emerging in 1961 and disbanding in 1968, it was involved in a number of campaigns, including consumer boycotts, educational projects, efforts to increase black voter registration in Mississippi, and work with the Wednesdays in Mississippi project to bring influential northern white women on brief visits of support during Freedom Summer in 1964

Political science · Praise · Sociology · White (mutation · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Psychology · Race, History, and American Society · Social Psychology