3.5 African American Women's Political Activism

Fighting Racism and Sexism Together

African American women activists faced intersecting oppressions of racism and sexism, often within movements meant to fight one or the other. Women like Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker built grassroots organizing strategies, emphasizing community-based leadership over top-down hierarchies, even while being marginalized by male leaders in civil rights organizations and by white women in feminist movements.

Key Organizers and Strategies

Ella Baker helped found SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), promoting participatory democracy and youth leadership. Fannie Lou Hamer co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), challenging the all-white state delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. These women prioritized voter registration, local leadership development, and direct testimony over centralized celebrity-style leadership.

Black Feminism and Combahee River Collective

The Combahee River Collective, founded in 1974, articulated Black feminism, arguing race, gender, class, and sexuality oppression are interlocking and must be addressed simultaneously. Their 1977 statement helped shape the concept later termed intersectionality, influencing how activists and scholars understand overlapping systems of discrimination facing Black women specifically.

Key terms

Ella Baker

Civil rights organizer who helped found SNCC and promoted participatory democracy and grassroots, youth-led leadership.

Fannie Lou Hamer

Co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party; testified about voter suppression at the 1964 DNC.

Combahee River Collective

Black feminist organization (founded 1974) whose 1977 statement addressed interlocking oppressions of race, gender, class, and sexuality.

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)

Political party formed to challenge the all-white Mississippi delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Intersectionality (concept origin)

Idea that overlapping systems of oppression (race, gender, class) affect Black women uniquely; rooted in Black feminist thought like the Combahee River Collective.

Try an AP-style question

What point does the speaker make?

1. Black women were denied both race and gender respect
2. Slavery treated women more gently than men
3. Men are always polite toward women
4. Women should always ride in carriages