From Desegregation to Desexigration in Richmond, Virginia, 1954-1973
.......................................................................................................v Introduction...................................................................................................1 Chapter One: Designing Dignity in the Dress ways of Downtown Richmond..............17 Chapter Two: Cashing in On Chivalry: Dignity, Desegregation, and the Demarcation of Space in the Thalhimer Boycott..........................................49 Chapter Three: Revolutionizing Retail & the Region: The Formation of Multiracial Female Coalitions in Downtown Richmond.................................74 Chapter Four: Feminism in Fashion: The Foothold of Personal Politics in Richmond, Virginia...............................................................................94 Conclusion.................................................................................................106 Bibliography...............................................................................................109
Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920
Glenda Gilmore recovers the rich nuances of southern political history by placing black women at its center. She explores the pivotal and interconnected roles played by gender and race in North Carolina politics from the period immediately preceding the disfranchisement of black men in 1900 to the time black and white women gained the vote in 1920. Gender and Jim Crow argues that the ideology of white supremacy embodied in the Jim Crow laws of the turn of the century profoundly reordered society and that within this environment, black women crafted an enduring tradition of political activism. According to Gilmore, a generation of educated African American women emerged in the 1890s to become, in effect, diplomats to the white community after the disfranchisement of their husbands, brothers, and fathers. Using the lives of African American women to tell the larger story, Gilmore chronicles black women's political strategies, their feminism, and their efforts to forge political ties with white women. Her analysis highlights the active role played by women of both races in the political process and in the emergence of southern progressivism. In addition, Gilmore illuminates the manipulation of concepts of gender by white supremacists and shows how this rhetoric changed once women, black and white, gained the vote. |"Gilmore sets out ...to reinterpret turn-of-the-century southern politics from the perspective of middle-class black women activists. She succeeds brilliantly. The book not only reclaims the long-buried stories of a group of richly compelling characters; it also redefines what should count as 'politics' in southern history." American Historical Review
School Boards, the Community, and School Desegregation
Local boards of education, or school boards, empowered to assume fiscal and administrative responsibility for local school districts, are legal arms of the state. Whereas they vary in the manner in which they discharge their responsibilities, they generally appoint a school superintendent to implement policy and to manage local school districts. In areas regarding teacher and administrator hiring, curriculum and educational programs, extracurricular activities, school staffing practices, community involvement, and the like, school board policies have a profound effect on overall educational quality. Another area of board policy, one that perhaps has had a more visible influence on the quality of education in local schools while simultaneously stimulating community reaction, concerns school desegregation. Because of its importance to educational quality, school desegregation functions as the lens through which the responsiveness of school boards to community desires is examined. To address these issues, this article first presents a general description of school boards. This description is followed by a review of criticisms of school boards, as well as a brief analysis