Antioch University AURA - Antioch University Repository and Archive Student & Alumni Scholarship, including Dissertations & Theses Dissertations & Theses 2015 African American Women Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement: A Narrative Inquiry Janet Dewart Bell Antioch University - PhD Program in Leadership and Change Follow this and additional works at: https://aura.antioch.edu/etds Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Studies Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, United States History Commons, and the Women's History Commons Recommended Citation Bell, Janet Dewart, "African American Women Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement: A Narrative Inquiry" (2015). 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AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN LEADERS IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY JANET DEWART BELL A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership and Change Program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 2015 This is to certify that the Dissertation entitled: AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN LEADERS IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY prepared by Janet Dewart Bell is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership and Change. Approved by: ______________________________________________________________________________ Alan E. Guskin, Ph.D., Chair date ______________________________________________________________________________ Laurien Alexandre, Ph.D., Committee Member date ______________________________________________________________________________ Elaine Gale, Ph.D., Committee Member date ______________________________________________________________________________ Joseph Jordan, Ph.D., External Reader date Copyright 2015 Janet Dewart Bell All rights reserved Acknowledgments My dissertation journey has been long, at times exhilarating, and sometimes arduous. Achieving this goal is the partial fulfillment not only of the requirements of this doctoral program, but of sacred trusts made with my late mother Willie Mae Neal and my late husband Derrick Bell. I dedicate this work to them. I am grateful to so many people who helped me along on this journey. Deepest thanks go to my dissertation chair Dr. Alan E. Guskin, scholar, visionary, and humanitarian, who stayed the course even when I got off course. I am eternally grateful to him. Thanks, too, go to committee members Dr. Laurien Alexandre and Dr. Elaine Gale, and Dr. Joseph Jordan, my external reader. Dr. Alexandre has also been my academic advisor throughout this doctoral program. It is she I call the Mother Ship. Dr. Gale also served as my methodology mentor and helped me unravel the mysteries of coding qualitative data. Dr. Jordan, my external reader, brought a deep understanding of African American history, culture, and leadership, as did Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, who served as mentor for my initial literature review. While each of these wonderful and brilliant people contributed to the development of my research and dissertation, I alone am responsible for the opinions, theories, and conclusions expressed herein. There are other people but for whom I would not have crossed the finish line. Chief among these is our indefatigable and fierce faculty librarian Deborah Baldwin, who really was my “Personal Librarian from Start to Finish”—a pledge she makes to every student. I could not have completed this work without her help. Other “but-for” people are these stalwart members of the Cohort 6 Sunday night study group, Doctors all, who recruited me to the group and lifted me up until I joined them across the finish line. They are family for life: My dear brother Norman Dale and sisters Naomi Nightingale i and Camilla Grace Fusae Ka'iuhono'onālani Wengler Vignoe. Words cannot express my gratitude to these stellar people. I appreciate others in Cohort 6, who have been supportive as well. I lift up the memory of Paul Gregory, whom I met in this program and with whom I was privileged to spend much time in the field during two presidential campaigns. A committed social justice leader, Paul led by heart, head, and example. He was truly an inspiration. One day several months ago, while railing against computer gremlins who were foiling my formatting and, thereby, slowing down my more important task of finishing the writing, I cried out to a writer friend, Betty Medsger, to see if she knew someone who could help me. My computer skills, never great to begin with, seemed to have dissipated. What resulted was the beginning of a remarkable association with Ben Firestone, who after a week or so of helping me meet formatting challenges, quietly mentioned that he was really an editor. I couldn’t believe my good fortune. Ben’s keen eye and gentle nature have helped me complete this journey. Even though his faith may not believe in archangels, he is mine. Daughter Lisa Marie Boykin and good friend Lola C. West hosted an early public presentation of my research and believed in the work and in me. Dr. Kitty M. Steel has been my supporter and role model for the entire journey. Special thanks to three videographers, who captured several of my interviews on tape—George Griswold (Leah Chase and Myrlie Evers), Michael Johnson (Aileen Hernandez), and Tracey Heather Strain (Judy Richardson). Joyce S. Johnson assisted in scheduling interviews, and my godson Nathaniel “Chip” Landry helped facilitate interview transcription. I also acknowledge daughters Lisa Jones and Linda Singer, son Carter Robeson Bell, “little sis” Kaoula Harris, my brothers Dr. William V. McCoy and Richard Neal, my late brother David Neal, my godson Arthur Lee Butler, and my now 14-year-old nephew Christopher Eubanks, who, even though he wasn’t quite sure what I was doing, cheered ii me on anyway. Others include Edith Benson, Valerie Cavanaugh and William Kerstetter, Karen Chilton, Steve Clarke, Dr. June Jackson Christmas, Anne Cohen, Sheryl Cowan, Jonathan Delson, Ivanhoe Donaldson, Hazel N. Dukes, Reena Evers, Wilma Hayes, the late Lawrence Hamilton, Eleni Delimpaltadaki Janis, Sarah Johnson, Eddie Lopez, Mark Munger and Kate Bourne, Jessye Norman, Charles Ogletree, Raymond Petrie, Stella Reese, Kenneth L. Roberson, Paulette Jones Robinson, Miles Rapoport, Markous Samaan, John Sexton, Rev. Dr. Paul Smith and Fran Smith, Cecile and Eric Springer, Gloria Steinem, Lee Summers, Sheng-Fu Yang, and Lewis Steel. The Antioch Leadership and Change Program has had many outstanding faculty members, among them former professors Dr. Richard Couto and Dr. Peter Vaill. Dick Couto helped me find the courage to pursue my own vision of leadership and tell my story with authenticity and passion. Peter Vaill’s courageous example of living with “permanent white water” became a guiding principle. Dr. Carolyn Kenny’s humanity and sprit infused mine. When my husband died, it was Dr. Kenny’s story of an indigenous tradition captured in “Blue Wolf Says Goodbye for the Last Time” that helped sustain me. These and other founding faculty members took the dream of Al Guskin and Laurien Alexandre and helped make it a reality. Jon Wergin, Elizabeth Holloway, Philomena Essed, and Mitch Kuzy played large roles in my academic development. Thanks also go to the program’s amazing staff and administrators, especially Jane Garrison and Vickie Nighswander. Finally, interviews with nine women leaders are the heart and soul of this narrative inquiry dissertation. They are Leah Chase, Kathleen Cleaver, Myrlie Evers, Jean Fairfax, Aileen Hernandez, Gay McDougall, Diane Nash, Gloria Richardson (Dandridge), and Judy Richardson. Dr. June Jackson Christmas’ participation in my pilot interview was crucial as well. I humbly iii thank these remarkable women for their time, insights, and trust that I could help tell at least some small part of their stories. They made the road by walking and have devoted their lifetimes to leading change. We are all in their debt. iv Abstract The purpose of this study is to give recognition to and lift up the voices of African American women leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. African American women were active leaders at all levels of the Civil Rights Movement, though the larger society, the civil rights establishment, and sometimes even the women themselves failed to acknowledge their significant leadership contributions. The recent and growing body of popular and nonacademic work on African American women leaders, which includes some leaders’ writings about their own experiences, often employs the terms “advocate” or “activist” rather than “leader.” In the academic literature, particularly on leadership and change, there is little attention devoted to African American women and their leadership legacy. Using a methodology of narrative inquiry, this study begins to remedy this gap in the leadership literature by incorporating history, sociology, and biography to describe the key characteristics of African