Continually Working

Crystal Marie Moten

Description

Continually Working tells the stories of Black working women who resisted employment inequality in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from the 1940s to the 1970s. The book explores the job-related activism of Black Midwestern working women and uncovers the political and intellectual strategies they used to critique and resist employment discrimination, dismantle unjust structures, and transform their lives and the lives of those in their community.

Moten emphasizes the ways in which Black women transformed the urban landscape by simultaneously occupying spaces from which they had been historically excluded and creating their own spaces. Black women refused to be marginalized within the historically white and middle‑class Milwaukee Young Women's Christian Association (MYWCA), an association whose mission centered on supporting women in urban areas. Black women forged interracial relationships within this organization and made it, not without much conflict and struggle, one of the most socially progressive organizations in the city. When Black women could not integrate historically white institutions, they created their own. They established financial and educational institutions, such as Pressley School of Beauty Culture, which beautician Mattie Pressley DeWese opened in 1946 as a result of segregation in the beauty training industry. This school served economic, educational, and community development purposes as well as created economic opportunities for Black women. Historically and contemporarily, Milwaukee has been and is still known as one of the most segregated cities in the nation. Black women have always contested urban inequality, by making space for themselves and others on the margins. In so doing, they have transformed both the urban landscape and urban history.
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Introduction
1. "More than a Job": Black Women's Midcentury Struggles at the Milwaukee Young Women's Christian Association
2. "A Credit to Our City as well as Our State": Black Beauticians' Professionalization, Progress, and Organization in Milwaukee, 1940s and 1950s
3. Working Toward a Remedy: Exposing the Experiences of Black Women during the Civil Rights Era
4. "What the Mothers Have to Say": Welfare Rights Activism in 1970s Milwaukee
5. "No Longer Marching": Dismantling the Jim Crow Jobs System in a Post-Civil Rights Era
Epilogue
Bibliography
Notes
Index

Sujets

• justice
• Black Studies
• Histoire
• Women
• Jim Crow laws
• World YWCA
• Africana studies
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Black people
• African American
• History
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• Jim Crow
• Milwaukee

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826505590
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Continually Working
SERIES EDITORS
Brandon Byrd, Vanderbilt University
Zandria F. Robinson, Georgetown University
Christopher Cameron, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
BLACK LIVES MATTER. What began as a Twitter hashtag after the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin has since become a widely recognized rallying cry for black being and resistance. The series aims are twofold: 1) to explore social justice and activism by black individuals and communities throughout history to the present, including the Black Lives Matter movement and the evolving ways it is being articulated and practiced across the African Diaspora; and 2) to examine everyday life and culture, rectifying well-worn “histories” that have excluded or denied the contributions of black individuals and communities or recast them as entirely white endeavors. Projects draw from a range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and will first and foremost be informed by “peopled” analyses, focusing on everyday actors and community folks.
CONTINUALLY WORKING
Black Women, Community Intellectualism and Economic Justice in Postwar Milwaukee
Crystal Marie Moten
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Washington, DC
in association with
Vanderbilt University Press
Nashville, Tennessee
Copyright 2023 by the Smithsonian Institution
Published 2023 by Vanderbilt University Press
All rights reserved
First printing 2023
Portions of Chapter 3 have appeared in Crystal Moten, “ ‘Kept Right on Fightin’ . . .’: African American Women’s Economic Activism in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” Journal of Civil and Human Rights 2 no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2016): 33–51.
Portions of Chapter 5 have appeared in Crystal Moten, “We’ve Been Behind the Scenes”: Fair Employment and Project Equality in 1970s Milwaukee,” in The Strange Careers of Jim Crow North: Segregation and Struggle Outside the South , edited by Brian Purnell and Jeanne Theoharis with Komozi Woodard (New York University Press, 2019), 259–284.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Moten, Crystal, 1982- author.
Title: Continually working : Black women, community intellectualism, and economic justice in postwar Milwaukee / Crystal Moten.
Description: Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press, [2023] | Series: Black lives and liberation | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022053775 (print) | LCCN 2022053776 (ebook) | ISBN 9780826505576 (paperback) | ISBN 9780826505583 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780826505590 (epub) | ISBN 9780826505606 (adobe pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: African American women—Employment—Wisconsin—Milwaukee—History—20th century. | African American women—Wisconsin—Milwaukee—Economic conditions—20th century. | African American women—Wisconsin—Milwaukee—History—20th century. | Discrimination in employment—Wisconsin—Milwaukee—History—20th century. | Milwaukee (Wis.)—History—20th century.
Classification: LCC HD6096.W6 M67 2023 (print) | LCC HD6096.W6 (ebook) | DDC 331.4/09775—dc23/eng/20230104
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022053775
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022053776
FOR MOM
Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Introduction
1. “More Than a Job”: Black Women’s Midcentury Struggles at the Milwaukee Young Women’s Christian Association
2. “A Credit to Our City as well as Our State”: Black Beauticians’ Professionalization, Progress, and Organization in Milwaukee, 1940s and 1950s
3. Working toward a Remedy: Exposing the Experiences of Black Women during the Civil Rights Era
4. “What the Mothers Have to Say”: Welfare Rights Activism in 1970s Milwaukee
5. “No Longer Marching”: Dismantling the Jim Crow Job System in a Post-Civil Rights Era
Epilogue
Notes
References
Index
Acknowledgments
Even though it was not possible to directly speak with every woman in this book whose story I have told, I must begin with acknowledging the women whose ideas, actions, strategies, experiences, struggles, and triumphs made this book possible. All errors and mistakes are mine alone. Additionally, the best ideas are nurtured and strengthened by and within community. Over the time I have worked on this book, my ideas have been encouraged, sharpened, and taken flight because of the many communities, assigned and chosen, of which I had the privilege to be a part.
Some aspects of this book emerged from the first graduate seminar I took on Black women’s activism with Christina Greene, professor in the Afro American studies department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The primary research required for this seminar introduced me to the archives. Professor Greene’s profuse comments (and purple ink) on my work throughout my graduate career made me a better thinker and writer. As my primary advisor, Nan Enstad’s continued guidance and support as I navigated graduate school and the professoriate have been invaluable. The same is true for William P. Jones, whose mentorship, friendship, and kindness has meant so much over the course of my career. Additional thanks to the late Jeanne Boydston, Francisco Serrano, Finn Enke, Sue Zaeske, and Cindy Cheng. Without the administrative help and good cheer of Leslie Abadie and Carrie Tobin, I might not have figured out or kept track of all the degree requirements I needed to successfully graduate. To them, I am grateful.
Fellow students in the departments of Afro-American studies and history remain lifelong friends and have journeyed with me as the ideas of this book developed over time. Thanks to Shannon Dee Williams, Matthew Blanton, Kate Mason, Sherry Johnson, Tanisha Ford, Eric Darnell Pritchard, Tiffany Florvil, and Assata Kokayi. A multitude of thanks to Charles Hughes, Jennifer Holland, Libby Tronnes, Andrew Case, Meredith Beck Mink, and Megan Raby—members of a writing group that read my work from proposal, to shitty first draft, to conference paper, and to chapter, many times over. Words cannot describe my debt of gratitude to the late Doria Dee Johnson, a dear friend and colleague. Doria started the history graduate program after me and we always joked that I was assigned to be her “formal” mentor. While I had a few years on her in terms of the pursuit of a history PhD, I learned so much from her about Black feminist theory, public history, and community engagement. Unfortunately, she passed away before the completion of this project. I sorely miss her, but I hope my work as a public historian honors her memory.
While the intellectual communities I found in the departments of Afro-American studies and history provided connection and camaraderie, my communities outside of the academy included Fountain of Life Family Worship Center as well as the Madison Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. These friends, mentors, spiritual advisors, and sorors always reminded me of who and whose I am, strengthening me, praying for me, feeding me, and providing me with opportunities to prioritize my health, my heart, and my spirit while on a tedious academic journey. Thanks to the Reverend Dr. Alexander Gee and Jackie Gee, as well as the FOL music team including Becca Grant, Alicia Cooper, Corey Saffold, Lena Archer, Cynthia Woodland, Kiah Calmese Walker, Anthony Ward, and LaVar Charleston. Thank you to the ladies of my FOL small group: Jennifer Taylor Edens, Molli Mitchell, De’Kendrea Stamps, Sherly Bellevue, Anglinia Washington, Nikki Ward, and Angela Cunningham. Thank you to the members of Madison Alumnae Chapter—Pearl Leonard Rock, Michelle DeBose, Tracey Williams, Tracey Caradine, Candace McDowell, Carlettra Stanford, Terri Strong, and Dana Warren—for your leadership and sisterhood. To L.I.T.E.R.A.L.: Turika Pulliam, Bonnie Williams, Danielle Berry, Raven McMillan, Christina Sempasa, Lucy Osakwe, Crystal Leach, Astra Iheukumere, Andrea Jones, Marian Jordan, Travelle Ellis, Carola Gaines, Uchenna Oraedu, Courtney Robinson, and Karla Renee Williams. All my love.
I am thankful to the UW Graduate School for the Advanced Opportunity Fellowship that funded portions of my time in graduate school, but I am also tremendously grateful for the jobs I held with the UW PEOPLE Program, in Residence Life, at the Business Library, and at the Oscar Rennebohm Library at Edgewood College. These jobs increased my professional skill sets, and along the way, I met some fabulous people. Thanks to Joselyn Diaz-Valdes, Binnu Hill, and Emilie Hofacker, as well as Jackie Scola-Bernstein, Larry Davis, and my twin, Tim Frederickson. Gratitude to Sylvia Contreras, Nathan Dowd, and Jonathon Bloy.
A Consortium for Faculty Diversity postdoctoral fellowship aided in my transition from graduate student to professor and I am grateful for this program. My CFD fellowship year at Dickinson College gave me the opportunity to develop my research agenda and craft new classes. Through the CFD fellowship, I met and became lifelong friends with Marisol LeBrón and Jennifer Kelly. Thanks to colleagues in the Department of History: Karl Qualls, Jeremy Ball, Marcelo Borges, and Regina Sweeney. I am grateful for the generous friendship of Emily Pawley and Roger Turner, who have read my work, shared their home and family with me, and fed me delicious food on holidays and mundane days all the same. Gratitude to Lynn Johnson and Patricia Moonsammy, as well as Jerry Philogene, Susan Rose, Amy Farrell, Jennifer Musial, Sarah Niebler, Sarah Kersh, Poulomi Saha, Linda Brindeau, and Maria Bruno. I would also like to add a special thanks to Amaury Sosa for a conversation we shared that helped me solidify the subtitle of the book. Cross campus thanks goes to my friends who worked in Landes House, including Melissa Garcia, Donna Hughes, Paula Lima Jones, and Vincent Stephens. Abundant gratitude to Bronté and Cynthia Burleigh-Jones, whom I met while at Dickinson and whose deep friendship has sustained me throughout my professional journey. Finally, special thanks