Gender, Race, and Politics in the Midwest: Black Club Women in IllinoisIndiana University Press, 1998 M10 22 - 162 pages During the thirty year period from 1890 to 1920, the African American club women in Illinois helped establish the largest national network of black club women in the country, The National Association of Colored Women, created hundreds of female associations, organized the only federation of its kind in the state, The Illinois Federation of Colored Women, and cast ballots for the first black elected to the city council. Hendricks focuses on the Progressive Era, a period of numerous and unusual challenges not replicated in other regions of the country. Illinois and several of the other Midwestern states were affected by the burgeoning industrial economy and by the massive immigration of African American seeking economic opportunity. Chicago, by 1920, housed one of the largest and most urbanized black communities in the country. While few legal social and political restrictions were imposed on blacks, the state was the site of some of the worst race riots in the nation during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Club women successfully met these challenges by becoming social and political agents of reform and community uplift. Through their own volunteerism and fundraising they combated the problems of homelessness, unemployment, illiteracy, high mortality, and inadequate health care that plagued African Americans. They opened kindergartens, day nurseries, orphanages, settlement houses, elderly homes, recreation centers, and medical care facilities. They also demonstrated their political prowess by developing a gendered political culture. They formed suffrage clubs, entered public debates on major issues and voiced their opinions on the importance of holding politicians accountable for their actions. The Illinois club women also played a primary role in the election of Oscar Stanton DePriest as the first black alderman in Chicago. Blacks in the Diaspora Series. |
Contents
The Movement to Organize Race Women | 1 |
Loyalty to Women and Justice to Children | 23 |
Agents of Social Welfare | 41 |
Race Riots the NAACP and Female Suffrage | 62 |
AGENTS OF POLITICAL INCLUSION | 79 |
The Politics of Race CHICAGO | 96 |
To Fill a Reported Industrial Need THE GREAT | 112 |
Conclusion | 129 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
activities African Ameri African American women Afro-American alderman Alpha Suffrage Club ballot became Black Chicago black club women black community black female black women Broad Ax cago Cairo candidate Charity Club Chicago Daily Chicago Defender Church Club Movement Colored Women Colored Women's Clubs Darlene Clark Hine delegates DePriest Duster elected Elizabeth Lindsay Davis enfranchisement Fannie Barrier Williams Federation of Colored female suffrage Frederick Douglass gender girls Gosnell History Ibid IFCWC Illinois Federation joined League Lincoln Colored Home lynching male Mary Mary Church Terrell Migration Monroe NAACP NACW NAWSA Negro Politicians number of black organization Peoria Phyllis Wheatley political Race Riot race women racial racism reform Republican role Sangamon County Second Ward social South Southern Springfield Springfield Colored Woman's suffragists tion University Press urban vote voters W. E. B. DuBois Washington Wells-Barnett white women Woman's Club women in Illinois World's Columbian Exposition York