2008 Abigail Sara Lewis ALL RIGHTS RESERVED “THE BARRIER BREAKING LOVE OF GOD”: THE MULTIRACIAL ACTIVISM OF THE YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 1940s TO 1970s by ABIGAIL SARA LEWIS A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History written under the direction of Steven F. Lawson and approved by ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey October 2008 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION “The Barrier Breaking Love of God”: The Multiracial Activism of The Young Women’s Christian Association, 1940s to 1970s By ABIGAIL SARA LEWIS Dissertation Director: Steven F. Lawson This dissertation examines the ways in which the Young Women’s Christian Association (the Y) redefined its race relations work in the post World War II era, and how it used Christian principles and rhetoric to construct a multiracially inclusive organization. For forty years, from its official incorporation in 1906 until its National Convention in 1946, the Y maintained segregated (Black, White, and Asian) branches. While it had tentatively fostered improved Black-White race relations in both its community and its student branches throughout the 1920s and 1930s, it was not until America’s entry into World War II and the subsequent internment of thousands of Japanese Americans that the organization’s racial approach went from “separate but equal” to full inclusion. This change caused members to reconceptualize what constituted interracial work and relationships, leading them directly into the civil rights movement and into creating one of the few multiracial spaces within the early women’s movement. From that point on, the organization stayed firmly committed to its ultimate ii goal of racial inclusiveness, and used Christian tenets and rhetoric as its principal force in making this goal a reality. iii Acknowledgements I want to first thank my committee, Steven F. Lawson, Susan R. Schrepfer, Nancy A. Hewitt, Deborah Gray White, and Gary Y. Okihiro. I could not have asked for a more conscientious and supportive group of scholars to guide me through this process. My advisor and dissertation chair, Steven Lawson, provided me with invaluable research and writing advice, not to mention great conversations on politics, culture, and history throughout my tenure at Rutgers. I will be forever grateful to him for not only setting the bar high, but knowing that I could reach it. I would also like to take this time to thank Susan Schrepfer for always being my cheerleader, and taking the time to help me sort through my ideas on this project. The comments and suggestions made by Nancy Hewitt and Deborah Gray White truly strengthened my dissertation, and I know as I further revise this work for the larger goal of a book, it is their challenging comments that will make it a success. Gary Okhiro’s scholarship was crucial in my fine tuning of arguments, and I am honored by his participation on my committee. Success has many fathers and mothers, and I want to thank those who have served as mentors throughout my academic career. As an undergraduate at Columbia I was lucky to have Daryl Michael Scott as an unofficial advisor, and Tara Fitzgerald as my official one. This dissertation grew out of my Master’s Thesis, and I would like to thank my committee at UCLA, Walter Allen, Laura Miller, Laura Edwards, and Michael Stoll, for encouraging me on this journey. While at Rutgers, I was gifted with an embarrassment of riches in terms of mentors and other supportive faculty members. First and foremost, Barbara Balliet has been a wonderful friend and mentor over the years. I would also like to thank Paul Clemens, Dee Garrison, Allison Isenberg, Jennifer Morgan, iv Chris Brown, Jim Goodman, Jim Reed, Beth Hutchison, Kayo Denda, Joanna Regulska, and Patrick Carr. I would not have been able to get through this program without the administrative support of Dawn Ruskai, Joanne Givand, and Marlene Importico. I am lucky to call all three my friends. Speaking of which, without the support of the following, completing this dissertation would have been an even harder task: thank you Lesley Doig, Carla MacDougall, Regan Shelton, Unique Fraser, Jennie Brier, Emily Westkaemper, Jennifer Manion, Margaret Sumner, Daniel Wherley, Tim Alves, Damian Miller, Megan Elias, Cynthia Strathmann, Amy Peloff, Becky Amato, Cecilia Tsu, and Shiho Imai. I want to thank the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts for their generous support granting me a Margaret Storrs Grierson fellowship. I especially want to thank Kara McClurken for her help while I reviewed all the newly deposited and unprocessed YWCA papers. I would also like to thank Ilene Magaras, who helped me at the National Board in New York City prior to the papers’ move to Smith and the Y’s move to Washington, D.C. My research took me across the country, and without the following libraries and YWCA branches, I would not have been able to write the dissertation the way I wanted to – one that featured the voices of both national and local leadership. In order of research trips, I want to thank: Aloha Smith, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; the staff at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C; the librarians at the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; the staff at the Richard J. Daley Library, Special Collections, University of Illinois, Chicago; Arthur Miller, Special Collections, Donnelley and Lee Library, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois; David Klaassen, v Social Welfare History Archives, and Daniel Necas, Immigration History Research Center, Elmer Anderson Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; the librarians at the Manuscripts, Special Collections, & University Archives, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle; Adelina Vallejo at the Seattle YWCA; Doug Erickson, Special Collections, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon; Robert Marshall, Urban Archives and Special Collections, California State University at Northridge; Mary DeWeese, Community Connections, Jacksonville, Florida (the former Jacksonville YWCA branch); the staff at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina; and, Carrie Musick and Ann Kennedy at the San Francisco YWCA. I loved undertaking the research and traveling around the country meeting people who were as interested in the Y’s history as I was. I want to take the time to thank one person in particular, whose kindness was above and beyond -- Doug Erickson at Lewis & Clark. I was three thousands miles away from home and had been doing research non-stop for three months when I showed up at his library. Doug invited me out to dinner with his office and lovely wife, Stacy, and has kept in touch with me ever since. Everyone should do research at Lewis & Clark. There are two people that made the completion of this dissertation possible. Irene Meisel, who met me every week at Columbia’s Butler Library and forced me to write. I could not have finished it without her. Amy Schrepfer will always have my thanks for being “the nudge.” Lastly, I would like to thank my family for their support and encouragement over the years. My father, Brian Arthur Lewis, read every thing I wrote, discussed every idea I had, and had an unwavering faith in me to finish. He deserves a special degree and we vi have agreed on “Patriarch of the Ph.D.” I will never be able to thank him enough for his help. And Justin, we kept our eyes on the prize and we made it to the Promised Land together. Thank you. vii Table of Contents ABSTRACT ………………………………………….……… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………… iv Introduction. “It is necessary for a person to be comfortable with herself on the subject of race”: The Movement towards Multiracialism …………..…… 1 Chapter 1. “Jolted by something so immense”: The Japanese Internment and the Beginnings of Interracial Work …………………………..……… 17 Chapter 2. “There are no second-class children of God”: Race and Religious Inclusiveness in the Postwar Era ………………………..………… 71 Chapter 3. “No middle ground for the Christian on the question of racial integration”: The Student Y, the Southern Freedom Struggle, and Women’s Liberation ………………………………………….………… 134 Chapter 4. “We are being forced (called on) to move”: Direct Action, Self Determination, and the One Imperative of the YWCA ………………… 202 Conclusion. “A pluralistic organization rotted in the Christian faith”: The Changing World of the 1970s ……………………………..……………… 270 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………..……………… 279 C.V. ……………………………………………………….. 298 viii 1 Introduction “It is necessary for a person to be comfortable with herself on the subject of race”: The Movement towards Multiracialism This dissertation examines the ways in which the Young Women’s Christian Association (the Y) redefined its race relations work in the post World War II era, and how it used Christian principles and rhetoric to construct a multiracially inclusive organization. For forty years, from its official incorporation in 1906 until its National Convention in 1946, the Y maintained segregated (Black, White, and Asian) branches. While it had tentatively fostered improved Black-White race relations in both its community and its student branches throughout the 1920s and 1930s, it was not until America’s entry into World War II and the subsequent internment of thousands of Japanese Americans that the organization’s racial approach went from “separate but equal” to full inclusion. This change caused members to reconceptualize what constituted interracial work and relationships, leading them directly into the civil rights movement and into creating one of the few multiracial spaces within the early women’s movement. From that point on, the organization stayed firmly committed to its ultimate goal of racial inclusiveness, and used Christian tenets and rhetoric as its principal force in making this goal a reality.