User:Ashemmasmith/African-American women in the civil rights movement

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There were many African American women that played a variety of impactful roles in the civil rights movement. They served as leaders, demonstrators, organizers, fundraisers, theorists, formed abolition and self-help societies. They also created and published newspapers, poems, and stories about how they are treated and it paved the way for the modern civil rights movement. African American women also faced two struggles, sexism and racism. They were judged by the color of their skin, as well as being discriminated against society because they are women. Womanism fully encompasses the intersectionality between these two social barriers, thus encompassing African American female involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. African American women led organizations and struggles for their suffrage, anti-lynching laws, full employment and especially against the Jim Crow Laws. They had to constantly fight for equality and needed to have a voice in what they can do in society. Black women served a special role as "bridge leaders," forming connections between those in formal positions of power and political constituents. They were the middle person going back and forth between the two groups and provided information to them. A major turning point was the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, which followed Rosa Park's bold move of not giving up her bus seat. Several notable African American female activists and organizations emerged from this movement, making essential gains in the civil rights agenda, despite restricted access to power and the Cold War atmosphere pushing for silence within the United States.

African American Women Leaders
Women not only provided help to those in power but also held important leadership positions within the civil rights movement, creating Black female support networks. African American female leaders include student Judy Richardson, who left college to organize projects, such as voter-registration drives. Kathleen Cleaver took the risk of serving as the first woman on the central committee of the Black Panther Party, making her a target of the FBI. Ella Mae Brayboy became the co-director of the voter registration drives sponsored by the Voter Education Project (VEP).Grace Hamilton was the first African American woman to be elected to the state legislature in the South. More women ran for political offices during this period of time, but they lacked attention due to the election of the first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson. May McLeod Bethune, a civil rights activist, made her voice heard, but was more subtle in how she did it. She seized every opportunity she could get her hands on to speak to the public about African American Civil rights. She spoke for women like Elizabeth Keckley, Frances E. Harper, Pauli Murray and Shirley Chisholm. All of these women seeked for an opportunity to talk about civil rights so they can help pave the way for future African American women in the United States. These female leaders took positions of responsibility in which they accomplished great feats, most commonly left out of the narrative. They impacted African American history, because they wanted to have a voice in what they can do within society during the Civil Rights Movement.

Fannie Lou Hamer (Joshua)
Fannie Lou Hamer (born October 6, 1917 - March 14 , 1977) was a civil rights activist during the 1960s. Fannie Lou Hammer at a very young age started to work hard labor as in picking cotton to help her family business make money. The reason being was because even though she had basic needs such as a house to live in and clothes to wear, Hamer and her family were still struggling, Hamer recalls her childhood “worse than hard”. Even though Hamer did not live the most average life she excelled in school and loved attending. Fannie Lou Hamer experiences and memories reflect later in her life during her political standings. Fannie Lou Hammer was always involved in any school activity and loved to participate in anything with her voice being heard, especially during the civil rights time period her voice being heard meant a lot overall. Fannie lou Hamer believed everyone no matter the color of ones skin should be able to vote, so she and her peers went to vote. Throughout the process of traveling and getting people to vote in 1964 police had stopped the bus they were all in for no reason and were harassing the passengers, which brought Hamer to sing songs because that is what she felt was necessary and Fannie’s singing alone is what brought peace to her peers and everyone who felt threatened by the police. Fannie Lou Hamer’s singing also brought attention from a leader of SNCC, who then reached out to Fannie to make her one of the many voices in the organization that fight for the freedom and equality of colored people. Fannie Lou Hamer contributed to the civil rights movement by traveling all around states and cities to get colored people to vote and stand up for themselves because she believed everyone is equal and no one should be shunned from doing anything because of skin color.