ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: SLAVE SHIPS, SHAMROCKS, AND SHACKLES: TRANSATLANTIC CONNECTIONS IN BLACK AMERICAN AND NORTHERN IRISH WOMEN’S REVOLUTIONARY AUTO/BIOGRAPHICAL WRITING, 1960S-1990S Amy L. Washburn, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Dissertation directed by: Professor Deborah S. Rosenfelt Department of Women’s Studies This dissertation explores revolutionary women’s contributions to the anti-colonial civil rights movements of the United States and Northern Ireland from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. I connect the work of Black American and Northern Irish revolutionary women leaders/writers involved in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Black Panther Party (BPP), Black Liberation Army (BLA), the Republic for New Afrika (RNA), the Soledad Brothers’ Defense Committee, the Communist Party- USA (Che Lumumba Club), the Jericho Movement, People’s Democracy (PD), the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), the National H-Block/ Armagh Committee, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), Women Against Imperialism (WAI), and/or Sinn Féin (SF), among others by examining their leadership roles, individual voices, and cultural productions. This project analyses political communiqués/ petitions, news coverage, prison files, personal letters, poetry and short prose, and memoirs of revolutionary Black American and Northern Irish women, all of whom were targeted, arrested, and imprisoned for their political activities. I highlight the personal correspondence, auto/biographical narratives, and poetry of the following key leaders/writers: Angela Y. Davis and Bernadette Devlin McAliskey; Assata Shakur and Margaretta D’Arcy; Ericka Huggins and Roseleen Walsh; Afeni Shakur-Davis, Joan Bird, Safiya Bukhari, and Martina Anderson, Ella O’Dwyer, and Mairéad Farrell. These women address similar themes in their work either through direct communication (i.e., political communiqués and personal correspondence) and/or indirect expression (i.e., news coverage and auto/biographical responses to it). I document moments of transatlantic solidarity among them. This project also draws on interviews with selected writers for supplemental data in interpreting their personal histories and writings. This dissertation is concerned with tracing and analyzing the politics and prose/ poetry of Black American and Northern Irish women. Their cultural expressions concern revolutionary struggle. I use their work as a source of data and an object of analysis. My work establishes links between several areas: nation and anti-colonialism, race and anti- racism, gender and feminism, literature and genre, content and analysis, and theory and praxis. SLAVE SHIPS, SHAMROCKS, AND SHACKLES: TRANSATLANTIC CONNECTIONS IN BLACK AMERICAN AND NORTHERN IRISH WOMEN’S REVOLUTIONARY AUTO/BIOGRAPHICAL WRITING, 1960S-1990S by Amy L. Washburn Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Professor Deborah S. Rosenfelt, Chair Professor Jan Zlotnik Schmidt Professor Claire G. Moses Professor Patricia Hill Collins Professor Elizabeth Bergmann Loizeaux © Copyright by Amy L. Washburn 2010 ii DEDICATION For my community of women—Mom, Holly, Nan, Nikki, and Daniela iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without intellectual, emotional, and financial help, this project would not have been possible. Though I am unable to thank everyone individually, I would like to thank all of the individuals, departments, and organizations that have aided me in my academic and activist pursuits. I also would like to express my deepest gratitude to specific professors, colleagues, writers, activists, students, librarians, friends, and family for their continuing generosity and solidarity. I am greatly indebted to my dissertation committee. First, my dissertation chair Deborah Rosenfelt offered me first-rate scholarly insights and editorial assistance. From my first doctoral course in Feminist Theory to my dissertation at the University of Maryland, she has made my writing more lucid. Her literary contributions also have been invaluable. I am grateful for all the time and energy she put into this dissertation, along with my other doctoral projects, including portfolios, independent studies, exams, and courses. I am honored that she served as chair to this project. As my advisor, I also thank her for her professional advice. Second, my second reader/ outside reader Jan Zlotnik Schmidt has remained unwavering in her intellectual and emotional support. From my M.A. thesis in English at the State University of New York at New Paltz to my Ph.D. dissertation in Women’s Studies at the University of Maryland, she has been a positive force in my professional life. After eight years of graduate work, her M.A. courses Modern Theories of Writing and Contemporary Women’s Autobiography still are my favorite and most relevant courses I have taken. I have learned so much from her as woman/ writer/ thinker/ teacher/ mentor. For this project, her literary and theoretical feedback has been outstanding. Her knowledge, creativity, pedagogy, and passion are still iv an inspiration to me. In addition, I thank her for helping me through difficult life passages as a mentor. Third, Claire Moses provided much intellectual generosity, scholarly feedback, and editorial suggestions over the course of my doctoral work in Women’s Studies. She served as an unofficial advisor, as well. Specifically, I am grateful that I studied feminist theory, transnational social movement history, and archival-based work with her. Her suggestions and insights were stellar. They have greatly improved the quality of my writing and work. I also am indebted to her for her professional advice. Fourth, Patricia Hill Collins played a key role in my intellectual growth. Her scholarship on Black feminist thought, critical race theory, and gender, race, and nationalism have been essential to many of my doctoral projects. Her lecture notes and class discussions also have been very useful to me. She has challenged me to rethink many of my beliefs. I am thankful for her contributions to my dissertation work, in particular. Lastly, I want to thank Elizabeth Bergmann Loizeaux for serving as the dean’s representative for my dissertation. Her feedback on Irish literature, namely on content and form, has been a great asset to this project. I am also thankful for her professional suggestions. As a whole, I cannot thank my dissertation committee members enough for all of the intellectual gifts they provided me. Many other professors and colleagues deserve acknowledgement. At SUNY New Paltz, the following people in the Department of English greatly contributed to my creative and critical work: my professors, especially Lynne Crockett, Fiona Paton, Nancy Johnson, and Pauline Uchmanowicz; my colleagues, especially Abigail Robin, Rachel Lagodka, Jacqueline Ahl, Joann Deiudicibus, Tim Gilmore, Jen Lee, Carrie Holligan, Kathena Hasbrouck DeGrassi, Danielle Bienvenue Bray, Jenn Smits, Meri Weiss, Sarah v Gardner, and Gina Dellatte; and administrative personnel, especially Ethel Wesdorp. Amy Kesselman in the Women’s Studies Program and Anne Roschelle in Sociology provided much support and advice, too. I treasure the oral and written dialogues on contemporary literature and auto/biographical literature I have exchanged with Carrie Holligan, Kathena Hasbrouck DeGrassi, Danielle Bienvenue Bray, Jenn Smits, and Jen Lee. The intellectual stimulation and doctoral preparation that SUNY New Paltz professors and colleagues provided was nothing short of spectacular. At the University of Maryland, many people in the Department of Women’s Studies have influenced my doctoral work. They include the following: my professors, especially Seung-kyung Kim for her feminist theoretical work and professional help, Elsa Barkley Brown for her civil rights movement instruction, A. Lynn Bolles and Bonnie Thornton Dill for their help with the Institutional Review Board and support for my pedagogical and political work, and Katie King for her intellectual generosity and interdisciplinary instruction; and other colleagues, especially Rajani Bhatia, Safoura Nourbakhsh, Geneviève Pagé, Mel Lewis, Laura Brunner, Robyn Epstein, Kimberlee Staking, Barbara Boswell, Angel Miles, yh Patt, Barbara Shaw, Ayu Saraswati, and Anaya McMurray. In particular, I want to thank Barbara Shaw, Barbara Boswell, and yh Patt for their guidance and feedback; their intellectual insights have greatly influenced my own work. yh Patt has been both a sympathetic friend and incisive critic; her kindness, love, and support have been wonderful. Merle Collins and Sangeeta Ray in the Department of English and Christina Hanhardt in American Studies were helpful, as well. I offer many thanks to Cliffornia Howard and Laura Nichols for their administrative assistance. vi At Union County College, many of my colleagues in the English Department have offered much support. Bob Comeau, Todd Tietchen, Wendy Barnes-Thomassen, James Eimont, Karen Zielony, Amanda Harris, Michael Murphy, Fatima Bronxton- Robinson, Joyce Maxwell, and Jeff Shalan all have been compassionate colleagues. I want to single out Todd Tietchen, Wendy Barnes-Thomassen, and James Eimont for all their ideas and encouragement for this project. I also want to thank Lasahin Griffin, Sue Green, and Monica Cunache for their administrative help. In addition, my students