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Author ORCID Identifier
N/A
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
History
Year Degree Awarded
2016
Month Degree Awarded
May
First Advisor
Laura Lovett
Second Advisor
David Glassberg
Third Advisor
John Higginson
Fourth Advisor
Manisha Sinha
Subject Categories
African American Studies | Ethnic Studies | History of Gender | Intellectual History | Oral History | Political History | Social History | United States History | Women's History | Women's Studies
Abstract
Since the 1980s, narratives surrounding the Boston Busing Crisis focus on South Boston white working-class’s reaction to Judge Arthur W. Garrity's forced desegregation order of 1974. Yet, by analyzing the crises from such narrow perspective, the narratives leave out half of the story. This dissertation challenges these narratives by situating the busing crisis as the culmination of more than half a century of grassroots activism led by Black working-class mothers. By taking action at the neighborhood and the city levels, these mothers succeeded where the National Association for the Advancement of the Colored People and the Urban League had failed. This study is the first one to analyze the role of these “ordinary mothers,” who, through their actions and influence, transformed the civil rights leadership in Boston between the 1920s and the mid-1970s.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/8386820.0
Recommended Citation
de Chantal, Julie, "“If There Are Men Who Are Afraid to Die, There Are Women Who Are Not”: African American Women's Civil Rights Leadership in Boston, 1920-1975." (2016). Doctoral Dissertations. 621.
https://doi.org/10.7275/8386820.0
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/621
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, History of Gender Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Oral History Commons, Political History Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons, Women's History Commons, Women's Studies Commons