Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun

12 “I’ve Got All My Sisters with Me”

233 12 “I’ve Got all my Sisters with me” black Women’s organizations in the Twenty-first Century Shirley A. Jackson This chapter explores the history and themes of black women’s organizations, in particular, social and civic organizations. Historically, the ability of black women to engage in social and civic activism has been hampered by their exclusion from those organizations founded or dominated by their white counterparts.1 In response, black women developed their own clubs, and these groups are the basis on which many black women still organize today. Black women patterned their organizations after and were inspired by those of white women. However, there were some important differences, in that black women knew the necessity of finding the type of work “that will be original, peculiarly suitable to our peculiar needs and that will distinguish our work from white women’s clubs.”2 historical overview The coming together of black women to pursue a common interest or goal is not new. Women’s collectives are evident throughout the African diasporas and have historically been visible when and where women have worked together to take care of their families, household tasks, and those chores that led them both to the market and into the fields. These activities in both the “public sphere” and the private or “domestic sphere” were often accomplished with the help and guidance of other women.3 African women’s lives were intertwined but not necessarily segmented; rather they encompassed a worldview of women’s roles that included both private and public spheres.4 This approach to organizing among women is still common today. The degree to which black women work together to solve problems, whether personal, familial, political, economic, or social, is indicative of the many ways womenareinvolvedinthe processoforganizingandtheactivismthatensues.The organizing and activism of women demand a present-day consideration. Much 234 Shirley A. Jackson of the study of black women’s activism is, unfortunately, limited to the antislavery activism of black and white women abolitionists,5 to the club movement of the 1890s to 1920s,6 to their roles in the church,7 or to their roles during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.8 These limited temporal snapshots discount the integral role that activism plays in the lives of black women today. In a reworking of the motto of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs Inc., black women are still attempting to “lift as they climb,” and much of this work is done under the auspices of social and civic sororities. Black women’s organizations often find their roots in informal gatherings. Some groups may then opt for a formal structure by establishing bylaws, appointing or electing an executive board, and developing a mission statement. The creationofformalorganizationshasthedualpurposeofclarifyingorganizational missions and goals and bringing a degree of formal recognition to the women involved and by society at large. The latter is important because it often includes submitting requests for funding and other types of support from outside agencies . Organizations may find that they are unable to locate sources of funding, thus limiting their ability to establish or maintain the group. I address here the histories and missions of several black women’s organizations and their current plans of action. I also discuss some of the problems faced by organizations in terms of membership and the perceived need for the continuing existence of black women’s social organizations. Politicizing Women’s Civic engagement Club development for black women has been personal, public, and political. These three factors combine to help African American women’s organizations address myriad political and social issues that affect them, their families, and their communities. In fact, historically, these organizations have been rooted in the very real need to aid black women and the black community at large, often during periods defined by hostile social, economic, and political climates.9 naTIonal aSSoCIaTIon oF Colored Women’S ClubS Two separate organizations, the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the National League of Colored Women, joined forces in 1896 to become the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs Inc. (NACWC). The National Federation of Afro-American Women was founded in Boston in “I’ve Got All My Sisters with Me” 235 1895, with Margaret Murray Washington as its first president. Similarly, also in 1895, “female members of Washington’s black elite under the leadership of Mary Church Terrell—educator, lecturer, and politician—and...