Want to Start a Revolution?: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle » (New Edition)

Dayo F. Gore is assistant professor of women's studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Jeanne Theoharis is Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College, City University of New York and co-editor (with Komozi Woodard) of Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements (NYU Press).

Komozi Woodard is professor of American history, public policy, and Africana studies at Sarah Lawrence College and author of A Nation within a Nation: Amiri Baraka and Black Power Politics.

The story of the black freedom struggle in America has been overwhelmingly male-centric, starring leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Huey Newton. With few exceptions, black women have been perceived as supporting actresses; as behind-the-scenes or peripheral activists, or rank and file party members. But what about Vicki Garvin, a Brooklyn-born activist who became a leader of the National Negro Labor Council and guide to Malcolm X on his travels through Africa? What about Shirley Chisholm, the first black Congresswoman?

From Rosa Parks and Esther Cooper Jackson, to Shirley Graham DuBois and Assata Shakur, a host of women demonstrated a lifelong commitment to radical change, embracing multiple roles to sustain the movement, founding numerous groups and mentoring younger activists. Helping to create the groundwork and continuity for the movement by operating as local organizers, international mobilizers, and charismatic leaders, the stories of the women profiled in Want to Start a Revolution? help shatter the pervasive and imbalanced image of women on the sidelines of the black freedom struggle.

Contributors: Margo Natalie Crawford, Prudence Cumberbatch, Johanna Fernández, Diane C. Fujino, Dayo F. Gore, Joshua Guild, Gerald Horne, Ericka Huggins, Angela D. LeBlanc-Ernest, Joy James, Erik McDuffie, Premilla Nadasen, Sherie M. Randolph, James Smethurst, Margaret Stevens, and Jeanne Theoharis.

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction Dayo F. Gore Jeanne Theoharis Komozi Woodard 1

1 "No Small Amount of Change Could Do": Esther Cooper Jackson and the Making of a Black Left Feminist Erik S. McDuffie 25

2 What "the Cause" Needs is a "Brainy and Energetic Woman": A Study of Female Charismatic Leadership in Baltimore Prudence Cumberbatch 47

3 From Communist Politics to Black Power: The Visionary Politics and Transnational Solidarities of Victoria "Vicki" Ama Garvin Dayo E Gore 72

4 Shirley Graham Du Bois: Portrait of the Black Woman Artist as a Revolutionary Gerald Horne Margaret Stevens 95

5 "A Life History of Being Rebellious": The Radicalism of Rosa Parks Jeanne Theoharis 115

6 Framing the Panther: Assata Shakur and Black Female Agency Joy James 138

7 Revolutionary Women, Revolutionary Education: The Black Panther Party's Oakland Community School Ericka Huggins Angela D. LeBlanc-Ernest 161

8 Must Revolution be a Family Affair? Revisiting the Black Woman Margo Natalie Crawford 185

9 Retraining the Heartworks: Women in Atlanta's Black Arts Movement James Smethurst 205

10 "Women's Liberation or ... Black Liberation, You're Fighting the Same Enemies": Florynce Kennedy, Black Power, and Feminism Sherie M. Randolph 223

11 To Make That Someday Come: Shirley Chisholm's Radical Politics of Possibility Joshua Guild 248

12 Denise Oliver and the Young Lords Party: Stretching the Political Boundaries of Struggle Johanna Fernandez 271

13 Grassroots Leadership and Afro-Asian Solidarities: Yuri Kochiyama's Humanizing Radicalism Diane C. Fujino 294

14 "We Do Whatever Becomes Necessary": Johnnie Tillmon, Welfare Rights, andBlack Power Premilla Nadasen 317

About the Contributors 339

Index 343