When Race, Class and Black Femininity Clashed at Central High School Misti Nicole Harper University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
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University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 8-2017 And They Entered as Ladies: When Race, Class and Black Femininity Clashed at Central High School Misti Nicole Harper University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, United States History Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Harper, Misti Nicole, "And They nE tered as Ladies: When Race, Class and Black Femininity Clashed at Central High School" (2017). Theses and Dissertations. 2405. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2405 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. And They Entered as Ladies: When Race, Class and Black Femininity Clashed at Central High School A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Misti Harper University of the Ozarks Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, 2004 University of Central Arkansas Master of Arts in History, 2011 August 2017 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. ___________________________________ Dr. Calvin White, Jr. Dissertation Director ____________________________________ Dr. Pearl K. Dowe Committee Member ____________________________________ Dr. Steven Rosales Committee Member Abstract “And They Entered as Ladies: When Race, Class and Black Femininity Clashed at Central High School,” explores the intersectionality of race, gender and class status as middle- class black women led the integration movement and were the focal point of white backlash during the 1957 Little Rock Central High School crisis. Six of the nine black students chosen to integrate Central High School were carefully selected girls from middle-class homes, whose mothers and female family members played active parts in keeping their daughters enrolled at Central, while Daisy Gatson Bates orchestrated the integration of the capital’s school system. Nevertheless, these women have generally been examined through the lens of black male activism or as catalysts for white women’s gendered and social fears. The marginalization of these women’s experiences at Central High ignores their uniquely gendered and racialized challenges that factored profoundly in the violent defense of white supremacy that targeted middle-class black femininity, and women who bore every credential for the title of Southern 'lady'--except for skin color. These women, their motivations and experiences in a pivotal moment in civil rights history must be examined with the same gravity that has been afforded to the singular racial component of the Little Rock school crisis, as well as to the gender and class explorations that have been afforded to segregationist, moderate, and liberal white participants. My work will expand our understanding of the social crisis in the Arkansas capitol, center the voices of black Arkansan women in the historical record, and provide a springboard for understanding how black women have organized for social justice, been marginalized in those same movements, and transcended intersectional discrimination across the nation. ©2017 by Misti Harper All Rights Reserved Acknowledgements Deciding to earn a doctorate is something akin to deciding you want to sail around the world, but instead of using a boat, you think you will be able wing it with a really top-of-the-line inner tube and instead of provisions, you will just eat what you are able to catch with the Swiss Army knife you erroneously think is as good as a harpoon (in your mind, Hemingway admires your moxie). The chances of you capsizing to your death, gouging a hole in your watercraft while you stab at sustenance (and then meeting your death), or poking your eye out with your Swiss Army knife (because you should never have had a bladed-object to begin with and WHAT HO, another death scenario!) are all astonishingly high. And the truth of earning a doctorate is that at least thirty percent of the time, a doctoral student fully believes she is riding an inner tube in choppy, shark-infested waters. There is simply no way she could earn a doctorate purely on her own (considerable) moxie; how considerate of the Universe to surround her with people willing to help guide the inner tube. First, this process would have been impossible without the generous funding of my presence on this campus, and then around the country to archives near and far, by the African and African American Studies Program, the Department of History, the Graduate School and the J.W. Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. Thank you all for believing my work and efforts were worthy. I am incredibly grateful for Dr. Pearl K. Dowe and Dr. Steven Rosales who agreed to serve on my committee, and who have made time over the past three years to listen to and critique my work. However, I could never have earned this degree or completed the first leg of my book without the mentorship of Calvin White, Jr. As a scholar and an intellectual, he helped me understand the whole scope of my beloved South. It is not hyperbole to say that he gave me new eyes for seeing the parts of our history that had been hidden from a white girl raised in Arkansas and Louisiana. As a friend, he continues to remind me that there is no limit to what kids from the Arkansas piney woods and delta can do. This project is as much his as mine (unless a reviewer finds big, gaping theoretical holes in my work. Then Dr. White clearly fell down on his job and everything is all his fault.) I also could not have earned any of this without the support of Dr. Jim Gigantino who never failed to read, critique, listen, or yell when he thought any of those verbs would make me a better historian, writer and teacher. He further was always available for any questions about the job market (of which I have had several) or the dry, wry joke (of which he had several). I do not know if he ever thought I was a gamble, but I sincerely appreciate him rolling those dice. There is also no value that I can put upon having a group of peers and colleagues around me, who were all trying to keep their inner tube afloat. Commiserating, bull sessions, reviewing each other’s work, brainstorming, creating opportunities for and with each other—as I understand it, comradery is not the order of the day among candidates in all doctoral programs. I am unyieldingly grateful that within the Department of History at Arkansas, friendship trumps ego. Adam Carson, Nate Conley, Sanket Desai, Dan Elkin, Dr. Amanda Ford, Dr. Kelly Houston-Jones, Dr. Rebecca Howard, Mary Margaret Hui, Scout Johnson, Alex Marino, Anne- Marie Martin, Dr. Whitney Martin, Jama Mays, Jared Pack, Rebecca McMillan Powers, Michael Powers, Madeleine Forrest Ramsey, Sarah Riva, David Schieffler, Dr. John Treat, Arley Ward, Ashley Whiting, Saxon Wyeth—at some point or another, every one of these people offered professional advice, shared their resources or time, lent a shoulder or an ear for venting, or offered up wine (or bourbon) as we all navigated the water together. Particular gratitude is reserved for Rodney W. Harris, who graduated with me from UCA in 2011 and entered the doctoral program at Arkansas with me that fall—we are tethered on this ride. You can use my makeshift-harpoon. Finally, I owe the most thanks and love to my husband, Doc Harper, and my daughter Clara. Without these two, this process would have been considerably more difficult and treacherous. They made the path a bit smoother and a bit sweeter, and Doc deserves a prize for uprooting from Little Rock to Fayetteville so that I could chase this rainbow. Merci beaucoup, Bearface. Table of Contents Introduction........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1—When and Where They Entered: The Emergence of Middle-Class Black Southern Ladies……………………………………………………………………………20 Chapter 2—Portrait of a (Invented) Lady: The Making of “Mrs. Bates”……………….61 Chapter 3—Hidden Ladies of Little Rock.......................................................................111 Chapter 4—Removing the White Veil from Respectable Black Womanhood................160 Chapter 5—A Matter for the Mothers to Settle…………………………………………209 Chapter 6—Of Battlefields and Pedestals……………………………………………….253 Afterward…………………………………………………………………………….......279 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………..282 List of Illustrations Illustration 1........................................................................................................................19 Illustration 2........................................................................................................................76 Illustration 3........................................................................................................................86 Illustrations 4 & 5..............................................................................................................108 Illustrations 6 & 7..............................................................................................................109 Illustration 8 & 9................................................................................................................110 Illustration