PDF Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America by Laura Wexler in History

Description

When and Where I Enter is an eloquent testimonial to the profound influence of African-American women on race and women's movements throughout American history. Drawing on speeches; diaries; letters; and other original documents; Paula Giddings powerfully portrays how black women have transcended racist and sexist attitudes--often confronting white feminists and black male leaders alike--to initiate social and political reform. From the open disregard for the rights of slave women to examples of today's more covert racism and sexism in civil rights and women'sorganizations; Giddings illuminates the black woman's crusade for equality. In the process; she paints unforgettable portraits of black female leaders; such as anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells; educator and FDR adviser Mary McLeod Bethune; and the heroic civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer; among others; who fought both overt and institutionalized oppression. When and Where I Enter reveals the immense moral power black women possessed and sought to wield throughout their history--the same power that prompted Anna Julia Cooper in 1892 to tell a group of black clergymen; "Only the black woman can say 'when and where I enter; in the quiet; undisputed dignity of my womanhood; without violence and without suing or special patronage; then and there the whole . . . race enters with me.'"