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Thomas, Brooke Alexis. "To capture a vision fair:" Black sorority women and the shift from respectability politics to public policy, 1935-1975. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-6vf4-xb97

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Title"To capture a vision fair:" Black sorority women and the shift from respectability politics to public policy, 1935-1975
NameThomas, Brooke Alexis (author), White, Deborah (chair), Gill, Tiffany (member), Devlin, Rachel (member), Gross, Kali N. (member), Murch, Donna (member), Rutgers University, School of Graduate Studies
Degree Date2023-05
Date Created2023
SubjectBlack history, Women's studies, African American studies, African American politics, African-American, Black sororities, Black women's history, New deal, War on poverty
Description"'To Capture a Vision Fair:' Black Sorority Women and the Shift from Respectability Politics to Public Policy, 1935-1975," illuminates the ways in which Black women reworked existing traditions and organizations emerging in the early 20th century in order to seize upon the opportunities created by the New Deal and later War on Poverty programming. Scholars have illuminated the ways in which Black clubwomen constructed and relied on notions of respectability to structure their social service programs, defend themselves against racialized and gendered discrimination, and influence American discourses on citizenship and politics from the 1880s through the 1920s. However, this historiography loses sight of this tradition of organizing and activism in the decades going forward; meaning that we do not yet have a thorough, nuanced examination of Black women's formal political activism from the 1930s until what is commonly referred to as the long Civil Rights movement. By focusing on the political agenda of a critical segment of Black women organizers, the Black colligate sororities, "'To Capture a Vision Fair:'” argues that Black sorority women strategically pivoted their ideologies and programming, beginning in the 1930s, to build upon legacies of uplift and respectability and moved beyond them to a combination that envisioned a greater partnership with the federal government in order to propel the long Black freedom struggle. As such, this project interrogates the malleability of respectability politics as a political and personal strategy. While the self-regulation, self-determination, and self-valuation that accompanied these politics continued to be a cornerstone of liberal Black women's politics, the women organizing between the 1930s and the 1970s also profoundly transformed it. Black women politicos began to think more broadly about public policy and the ways the state could further support the needs of African Americans, particularly around issues of employment, economic justice, health, and full political inclusion and representation. Using a range of archival sources, which include Black sorority magazines, the personal papers of key leaders, and congressional hearing transcripts, this project elucidates Black sorority women's persistent and consistent effort to shape United States politics and policies, make the state accountable to the needs of Black people, and expand opportunities for a new cadre of Black women political leaders.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-6vf4-xb97
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.