'Our girls can match 'em every time': The Political Activities of African American Women in Philadelphia, 1912-1941

Abstract

This dissertation challenges the dominant interpretation in women's history of the 1920s and 1930s as the "doldrums of the women's movement," and demonstrates that Philadelphia's political history is incomplete without the inclusion of African American women's voices. Given their well-developed bases of power in social reform, club, church, and interracial groups and strong tradition of political activism, these women exerted tangible pressure on Philadelphia's political leaders to reshape the reform agenda. When success was not forthcoming through traditional political means, African American women developed alternate strategies to secure their political agenda. While this dissertation is a traditional social and political history, it will also combine elements of biography in order to reconstruct the lives of Philadelphia's African American political women. This work does not describe a united sisterhood among women or portray this period as one of unparalleled success. Rather, this dissertation will bring a new balance to political history that highlights the importance of local political activism and is at the same time sensitive to issues of race, gender, and class. Central to this study will be the development of biographical sketches for the key African American women activists in Philadelphia, reconstructing the challenges they faced in the political arena, as feminists and as reformers. Enfranchisement did not immediately translate into political power, as black women's efforts to achieve their goals were often frustrated by racial tension with white women and gender divisions within the African American community. This dissertation also contributes to the historical debate regarding the shifting partisan alliance of the African American community. African Americans not intimately tied to the club movement or machine politics spearheaded the move away from the Republicans. They did so not out of economic reasons or as a result of Democratic overtures but because of the poor record of the Republicans on racial issues. Crystal Bird Fauset's rise to political power, as the first African American woman elected to a state legislature in the United States, provides important insight into Philadelphia Democratic politics, the African American community, and the extensive organizational and political networks woven by African American women.