Women Black Power

Question 1

Positive View + Historian

Answer 1

• Women played a fundamental role in the Black Power movement and subsequently began challenging other social norms that they considered oppressive
• Encouragement of ‘Second wave Feminism’
• Farmer has asserted that pamphlets and propaganda posters portrayed women as revolutionary equals

Question 2

Mixed View

Answer 2

Black Power was not a homogenous movement and impacted different women in different ways

Question 3

Negative View

Answer 3

Women were usually relegated to a small role in the Black Power movement, and the men in the highest position often looked disparagingly on feminism

Question 4

Key activists in this period (10)

Answer 4

• Gloria Richardson
• Angela Davis
• Kathleen Cleaver
• Assata Shakur
• Elaine Brown
• Erika Higgins
• Safiya Bukhari
• Fannie Lou Hamer
• Gloria Steinem
• Betty Friedan

Question 5

Role of Gloria Richardson

Answer 5

Maryland 1962- 1964
‘When a mad dog is after you, you don’t run’
Roundly criticized

Question 6

Role of Angela Davis

Answer 6

• Parents NAACP members & educated in segregated education
• Joined the SNCC in 1967 and soon after the Black Panther party itself
• She left in 1968 to join an all-black faction of the communist party in LA
• Appeared on FBI’s 10 most wanted list - led a campaign to free AA prisoners who had killed a white prison guard (believed they were framed) → spent rest of her life looking at equality and prison reform
• Organised a rally in San Diego, California in 1967. Eval: She wrote about her experience saying she was criticized by male members of the group for doing “a man’s job”.

Question 7

Role of Gloria Steinem

Answer 7

• 1972- Gloria Steinem published the feminist magazine ‘Ms’ and by the end of the year there was 200,000 copies in circulation.

Question 8

Role of Elaine Brown

Answer 8

• Elaine Brown was 2nd only in responsibility on the central committee to the founder of the Black Panthers Huey Newton.
• Rejected the notion that women should be involved in a supporting role and sought an active role

Question 9

Role of Kathleen Cleaver

Answer 9

• Also rejected the notion that women should be involved in a supporting role and sought an active role

Question 10

How were Women portrayed

Answer 10

• Portrayed as revolutionary equals, female activists developed a wide range of aims involving day care, food aid and support for poorer neighbourhoods.
• Women trained alongside men and were shown as revolutionaries in propaganda.

Question 11

Role of women at a grassroots level

Answer 11

• By the 1970s, ⅔rds of Black Panther members were female. Eval: This was partially due to the repression, killing and imprisonment of male activists.
• Role of women in the movement was as powerful as the more dramatic image of male power.
• Thousands of women joined the March on Washington. Eval: None of the female leaders were invited to speak
• Female Black Panther members were known as ‘sisters’ and wrote articles, designed posters, gave legal advice and were organisers and speakers. Some took leadership roles.
• The encouragement of traditional black culture and the term “black is beautiful” resonated with women - they were also usually very important local leaders, supporting AA women to get better healthcare and education etc.
• “Revolutionary first, sister second” idea of women playing a prominent role became popular

Question 12

Similarities between ‘New Feminism’ and Black Power

Answer 12

• ‘New Feminism’ was similar to Black Power in its establishment of a new consciousness of women- Focused on problem of how society viewed women
• Feminists demands became more radical and their methods more extreme. (E.g. ‘Radicalesbians’- claimed liberation for women had to be done through lesbianism and campaigned for a genderless society.)

Question 13

• Impact of this new style of politics (- Shift from conventional politics to ‘identity politics’ introduced a new type of democratic discussion, which impacted on a range of other issues such as gay rights and second wave feminism )

Answer 13

• Development of a different sort of politics led to questioning of established social norms in spheres other than race. Led to women questioning their own struggle for freedom, encouraging more feminist activism
• Expansion of gender politics encouraged the growth of second-wave feminism and forced the US to examine stereotypes.

Question 14

Women’s activism in the 1950s (+ve)

Answer 14

• Women had taken a leading role in the activism of the 1950s including the Birmingham Bus Boycott, the Freedom Rides and the sit-ins

Question 15

Role of Erika Higgins (+ve)

Answer 15

• Erika Higgins was a high-ranking member of the organisation of Black Panthers in Connecticut

Question 16

Role of Safiya Bukhari (+ve)

Answer 16

• Led armed units of the Black Power movement

Question 17

NOI and the birth control pill (-ve)

Answer 17

• Separatist movements who favoured tradition opposed birth control - Nation of Islam. The NOI had condemned ‘the sins of birth control’ and ‘the deadly pill’. Eval: Women responded by forming their own organisations

Question 18

Impact of Republican era and how Black Power may have triggered that (-ve)

Answer 18

• Black Power activism triggered a Conservative backlash, arguably fundamental in triggering the Republican era and may have helped to prevent wider reforms to ensure equality such as the passing of the ERA.

Question 19

Harms of the radicalism of Black Power

Answer 19

• Radicalism of Black Power groups was harmful to women’s rights as it was suggested that both were part of a wider movement to destabilise US society.

Question 20

How was feminism viewed (-ve)

Answer 20

• Feminism was seen as a middle class distraction from the real oppression of the race
• Leading men in the movement still had disparaging view on feminism, viewing it as “a white woman’s thing”.

Question 21

What did local activism often amount to and which roles would they usually adopt (-ve)

Answer 21

• Often local activism amounted only to the domestic role of helping other women or caring for families
• Women tended to be relegated to supporting roles rather than decision-making roles in both the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power organizations.

Question 22

What were black women expected to do (-ve)

Answer 22

• Black activists called for black women to ‘walk behind men’ in protesting and political activity.

Question 23

What were the divisions amongst radicals themselves

Answer 23

• Radicals themselves saw a division between the roles and rights of the sexes as part of African culture- hence hindering the women’s desires for change

Question 24

Role of Fannie Lou Hamer (-ve)

Answer 24

• Fannie Lou Hamer was such a powerful speaker about the wrongs by women that Malcolm X was moved and described her as ‘the country’s number one freedom fighter’

Question 25

What happened in the 1967 Black Power manifesto

Answer 25

• In Black Power: the politics of liberation in America (1967 manifesto that helped define the black power movement written by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton) The authors barely mentioned the roles or importance of women.

Question 26

Why was Black Power arguably not that important for Women in progressing their rights and inspiring activism

Answer 26

• Black Power coincided with a radicalisation of US society and new demands for female equality
• Attitudes of Black Power were not compatible with the wider demands of women

Question 27

Overall

Answer 27

• Large contribution at local level, but the central Black Power organisations tended to be dominated by men
• Did contribute at a grassroots level due to the high membership proportion of women
• Whilst it may have damaged their civil rights movement, it did promote a sense of pride and identity for women
• Ultimately Black power is more than often tied up with a misogynistic cult of masculinity. (Look at black panther propaganda)