Careers of Women Civil Rights Activists

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 7 Issue 5 September Article 6 September 1980 Careers of Women Civil Rights Activists Rhoda Lois Blumberg Rutgers University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw Part of the Social Work Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Blumberg, Rhoda Lois (1980) "Careers of Women Civil Rights Activists," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 7 : Iss. 5 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol7/iss5/6 This Article is brought to you by the Western Michigan University School of Social Work. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CAREERS OF WOMEN CIVIL RIGHTS -,TZVIfl"* Rhoda Lois Blumberg Douglass College, Rutgers Universitv ABSTRACT Stages in the civil rights careers of a sample of women active in northern communities were studieC. Committed to racial 'ustice, mnost intensified their participation in the early 1960's. In the second half cf the decade, the "Black Power" phase, roles for whites became fewer. Orcanizations exnerience,& chnges in membership and direction; factionalism ensued. Yan, women welcomec black leaders'l_ '_ , and olaved roles i'U new black-lea comrunitv agencies. Arrests of blacks allegedly involved in riots elicited support in -he fcr.ati on of defense committees and orison refo r organizations. Later, many women entered uman service professions; they chose jobs wi. poor, minority or clsadvantagecclienteles. Half are still volunteers. Continuity is sought between paid or volunteer worc ana soczal concerns. In its ansence, a sense cr loss or cuilt I-s experienced. Movement commitment tends to be translated into institutional roles, most especiaz ly paid careers in the human services. Although research -s accumulating, many cuestions of theoret- ical as well as social policy interest remain about the nature of white participation in the civil riahts movement of the 1980's. Some suggest that whites, as outsiders, became a hindrance in the later stages of this minority movement (Marx and Useen 1971). Another ateroach stresses the generally declining function of the Membership base in civil rights durinq the latter half of the 1960's, the "'lack Power" phase. It was during this period that Q0vernment, business, and foundations helped to create paid social careers (-cCarthy and Zald 1973). Financial resources Provided by mainstream white institutions would appear to have This is a revised version of a paper presented at the Annual -eetings of the Easze-rn SociioLoical Society, March 16, 1977, flew York City. Thanks are due to Cheryl Townsend Gilkes for her tbofstructi.:e re--arks as discussant, to Richard M. Stephenson for COmments on an earlier draft, and to the Rutgers University ersearch Council for grants which supported the research. -"blicationsof the author prior to 1979 appeared under the name a Lois Goldstein. 709 replaced, in effect, the direct action participation of relatively, powerless whites. Or did committed whites find new roles to play during the second, less integrationist phase of the movement? If most newly-created paid movement jobs were allocated to blacks and members of other minorities (as a pacification effort, to be sure) what occupational roles were available to the white activists?' Clearly, longitudinal studies are needed to address such issues' (Williams 1977). Stages in the growth or decline of white activism,! its relationships to changing movement philosophies, organizational: contexts and resources -- as well as to individual life history -- are all areas open for exploration. Most frequently, movement participation is seen as characteris- tic of college youth, who do not bear responsibility for adult roles and have periods of unscheduled time available (Demerath et al 1971; Fendrich 1977; McCarthy and Zald 1973). Follow-up studies of student activists have been made but little is known of what happened to their adult counterparts (Erlanger 19777 Fendrich 1977.) Yet a 1964 national survey of white civil rights activists found that fifty-two per cent of them were over the age of thirty (Pinkney 1968). To begin to fill -this gap I present data on a sample of white females who range widely in age, most of whom were wives and mothers during the 1960's. Their civil rights participation took place primarily in a relatively neglected context of the movement -- northern communities.(l) In the 1950's and 1960's they joined interracial housing, education, and human rights groups, and branches of national organizations such as NAACP and CORE. Their activities ran a wide gamut: from public speaking and the writing of newsletters and leaflets to organizing, demonstrating, and lobbying. Several travelled to the South to participate in special campaigns. This paper is concerned with the processes and contexts of their involvement, and the meanings attached to civil rights work. It examines the evolution of movement roles, starting with preconditions to involvement; traces participation through changes that occurred during the Black Power phase; and, finally, looks at the current activities, paid and volunteer of sample members. The intermeshing of movement careers with family careers has (1) Reference is made here to the northern activism that paralleled the early thrust of the southern movement. 71o eeen dIealt -with e.Sewhere-:..... (GoIdsteinr9-S0). uie.c Th-1e ter "career," as used here, refers to a major involvement over time which hels shape individual identity, and is not liri:ec to paid work (see Becke--r and Straus 1970). -or Those studied, the movement was an intense experience which gave meaning and 1 direction to their lives. As Cmmi v careers evolved and chil8- ren crew cioder, -.anv of the wc-en retu-ned to schccl cr to -a employ .ent. Vreetber or not these new interests represented "ldefection" from civil richts cc.mi-ents is a e S shall be examined. Sample and Methods Use of a revutational method solved the problem of locating former activists. Mv first-hand accuaintance with their ov-vda world, a wCrld i had shared, included many contacts. Throuah these T derived a snowball sample of white females, well-known for civil richts activities own coomunnities I State of New Jersey. (2) TIhe respondents' networs led to seven centers of interracial movement activity, although this by no means exhausted such centers i the sat Lenzth c. partlcfp- tion varied, but eacn i'ndividual was included only if she considered racial justice to be an important personal value. Forty-one women met this criteria. In-depth interviews focussed on the dynamics of vol.untary association and s-ocial move.ent par-.ticiatior as ro-a* tc staces in the individual's life course.(C) A brief follcw-up contact by mail and telephone in December 1976 brought information up to date. To provide a clearer im.age of the respondents, some back- ground characteristics are nresented. Their media- year or birth is 1927, with a range of from 1898 to 1945. Two of the younger women have never been married. Of the ever-married, one-half are married to first husbands, a iover 15% second husbands; a little over one-quarter are divorced, and slightly over 10% are widowed. More than two-thirds possess a bachelor's o- iner decree, but their eucaticna!l a" s was T) The suoaestios of as man different respondents as pnssiz'e were utilized; where feasible at least two were chosen from each -Community represented. (3) Most subjects were hichly verbal and talked freely; the open- ended nature of the interview favored the exposure of serependitious data. 711 lower at the time of their activism. Religious backgrounds are varied and will be discussed later. Many women recall the effect of the Depression on their families, with more than a third saying they were poor or very poor during childhood. A few of the families were relatively well-to-do. Typing the White Civil Rights Activists Categorizations of white civil rights workers have sometimes differentiated between political "liberals" or "reformists" and political "radicals," corresponding to the individual's degree of alienation from the social structure (Demerath et al 1971:171; Marden and Meyer 1977:200). But an individual's strong commitment to racial equality need not be tied to over-all political radicalism (Meier 1970). Pinkney has used the terms "civil rights liberals" and "civil rights radicals" to indicate degree of commitment to the cause rather than to signify a general political stance (1968). This recognition that individuals vary in the extent of their willingness to serve a particular cause is implicit in such distinctions as those made between "core" and "peripheral" members. Another concept, "white positivism" has been said to charac- terize: that small number of white Americans who not only think that blacks should gain complete equality for their own sake, but believe that it is essential for liberating whites, morally and ethically (Marden and Meyer 1977:200). Members of the sample take varying positions about the via-: bility of the present social system. Of the need for racial justice, however, they have no doubt. They cite practical as well as moral reasons for believing that this goal serves their own self-interests. A quest for interracial experiences for their children propelled many of them into civil rights activities. Equality for black people is frequently now encompassed within broader ideals, such as economic equality or "equality for all peoples." Said one respondent, as a typical example: Maybe it's enlightened self-interest, this feeling that as long as there are large segments of the American population that are second class, that don't have their rights, that this inevitably threatens me as well. (Interview 108) These women, then, most closely fit Marden and Meyer's concept of "white positivists" or Pinkney's concept of "civil rights radicals." 712 piffe-rences between white male anO- female activists have not ceen analyzen in -enth, aithouvch hyp-otheses have been advancer).

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