A vital contribution to the often-overlooked history of women as agents of change in the civil rights movement
Tiyi M. Morris is an assistant professor in the Department of African-American and African Studies at Ohio State University, USA.
Just as the organization itself, Womanpower Unlimited, the book, is
a labor of love. Recognizing the invisibility borne by Black women
in virtually all spheres of life, but especially with respect to
their activism within the patriarchal nature of civil rights
historical and contemporary literature, Morris succeeds in claiming
space for underexplored movements led by Black women with strictly
political orientations.--Denice D. Nabinett "Spectrum"
Tiyi Morris attempt to fill this gap in the scholarship [women's
leadership during the Civil Rights Movement] with Womanpower
Unlimited and the Black Freedom Struggle in Mississippi. This is
the first comprehensive examination of Womanpower Unlimited (WU), a
lesser-known but vitally important women's political organization
formed in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1961.--Christina Harris "The
Journal of African American History"
It is one thing to say that black women were important to the Civil
Rights Movement but, in Womanpower Unlimited and the Black Freedom
Struggle in Mississippi, Tiyi M. Morris shows us how and why they
were important. She expands our understanding of black women's
activism by showing it was much more than just voter registration
and direct action campaigns, which dominate both the
historiographical interpretations and the current popular
conceptions of the movement. Instead, Black women's activism
encompassed the international peace movement, quality of life
issues for poor blacks, equality of educational opportunities, work
with children, feeding the hungry, and so much more, and it moved
well outside the borders of the State of Mississippi. This was not
a parochial, limited effort. The scope and impact of Womanpower
Unlimited reached from Farish Street in Jackson and the Mississippi
Delta to Vermont, Geneva, and beyond. It touched the lives of
thousands of people in the few short years it was in
existence.--Robert Luckett, Director, Margaret Walker Center,
Jackson State University
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