Radical Sisters. Second-Wave Feminism and Black Liberation in Washington, D.C. (review)

Anne M. Valk's book, Radical Sisters, offers readers a complex and nuanced examination of the limits of and opportunities for inter- and intra-racial as well as cross-class collaborations of women's organizations during the 1960s and 1970s. She capably accomplishes this through her focus on Washington, D.C., a critical site not only because of its governmental, public policy, and activist organizations, but also because of its significantly large African American population.

Rather than discussing distinct models of feminism, Valk astutely portrays how various women's groups worked in conjunction and disjunction during the "second wave" of feminism. She correctly argues that scholarly distinctions between liberal and radical are often deceptive. For example, it was not unusual for radical women to moderate their positions during the 1970s in order to work with more conservative groups. Some white middle-class women's groups attempted to collaborate with their African American counterparts. In this case, their efforts were stymied not only by differences of race and class but also ideologies in terms of motherhood, women's sexualities, and concepts of community. At the same time, each book chapter reveals how, despite these differences, there was a cross-fertilization of ideas and practices among various women's organizations.

Chapter 1 begins with a portrait of Mary Treadwell, a middle-class African American graduate of Howard University. Valk traces Treadwell's activism from co-founding Pride, Inc., an organization for poor, young black men, to her involvement with the antiwar movement, prison reform, and reproductive rights. Valk also recounts Treadwell's and others' participation in civil rights organizations, such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). In both groups, African American women were relegated to subordinate leadership roles and experienced sex discrimination. Still, a few African American women broke those barriers in the D.C. offices of CORE, working with African American churches and social settlements. There, these female leaders created employment opportunities for some public housing residents, who in turn mobilized their communities of women.

In chapter 2, Valk examines the critical issue of welfare rights. She begins, again, with the example of remarkable African American activist, Etta Horn, founding member of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO). By 1968, the NWRO had five chapters in D.C., headed mostly by African American women. Working in conjunction with the national organization, these chapters organized protests and marches. Signs with the slogan "Mother Power" attested to welfare mothers' deep concern for their children's well being and their opposition to the war appropriations which cut into vital social programs for families.

As might be expected, some women's organizations held differing ideological ideas about welfare rights, in large part because of social class differences. For example, the Citywide Welfare Alliance (CWA), comprised of recipients from Aid to Dependent Families and Children, favored more public assistance. In contrast, the local League of Women Voters, which included mostly middle-class women, emphasized the economic independence of mothers. Nonetheless, some women's organizations did attempt cross-class coalitions. The National Organization for Women's (NOW) D.C. chapter established a task force on Women in Poverty in 1971 and invited low-income women to join. The Friends of Welfare Rights also tried to forge connections between welfare activists and middle-class women. Once again, though, class differences mattered: Whereas middle-class women advocated for child care centers, poorer women contested the imposition of work requirements, arguing that motherhood itself was work.

Despite their ideological differences, many activist groups were forced to change their strategies when the government cut appropriations. As Valk points out, women's organizations joined forces with city administrators to protest decreased funds and programs. The D.C. Family Rights Organization, for one, switched from street protests to working more closely with government agencies. The group also promoted work programs, advocacy centers, and child...