Writing Black Women’s History: University Press Week 2023

We are celebrating University Press Week November 13‒17 along with other members of the Association of University Presses (AUPresses), an organization of 160 international nonprofit scholarly publishers. Today’s post is part of the UP Week blog tour, and for this post we invited authors of recent books on Black women’s history to share their experiences researching, writing, and publishing their books.

The individuals featured in this Q&A are:

When did you know that you wanted to write your book? What led you to the time, place, and people your book focuses on?

Ramsey: I decided to write my book in 2008 after realizing that Dr. Bertha Maxwell-Roddey had accomplished several historical milestones within civil rights and educational history.

Preston: This book started as a dissertation topic in 2011. I was working at the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House-National Historic Site, and I fell in love with Mrs. Bethune’s story. I was surprised that so little was known about the impact that she made internationally and as a Diaspora scholar I just started making the connections.

Gillespie: I first learned of the Citizenship Education Program from Tom Dent’s Southern Journey where he described teacher training at the Dorchester Center. During my first semester of graduate school at Binghamton University, I needed to complete a research proposal. So, I did some digging and discovered a treasure trove of records about the CEP at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Atlanta.  My family is southern, and I had lived and traveled in the South, so the people and places felt familiar.

Brunson: I realized that I wanted to research the history of Black Cuban women as an undergraduate student at Spelman College. During my junior year, I studied abroad at the University of Havana and interviewed Cuban women of African descent about their life experiences. Subsequently, I wrote my senior thesis on Black women’s lives after 1959, which led to the realization that no one had written a book on their lives prior to the Cuban Revolution.

What were some impactful groups and organizations in education, civil rights, labor, and other areas that stood out to you in your research? Why are these groups important?

Ramsey: The programs and organizations that Dr. Maxwell-Roddey founded, such as Charlotte Teachers Corps (1964); UNC Charlotte’s Black Studies, now Africana Studies Department (1971); the National Council for Black Studies (1975); and her service work and leadership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. They are important because they represent the efforts of activists to build institutions to sustain social progress.

Preston: There are too many organizations to name when you look at the work of Mrs. Bethune. The organizations that she was affiliated with include National Council of Negro Women (Founder & President), National Association of Colored Women (President), Florida State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs (President), Southern Conference for Human Welfare (Vice President-Board Representative), Association for the Study of Negro Life & History (President), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Vice President & Consultant to the conference to draft United Nations Charter), and there are so many more. Mrs. Bethune believed in the work of organizations because they unified people to support and advocate for causes and much of her life was spent doing organizational work.

Gillespie: The Highlander Folk School is the most obvious response. Highlander provided a gathering space for local leaders. Their experiences as workers and activists were valued more than degrees or credentials. Out of Highlander’s facilitated discussions, they developed solutions to local issues. The citizenship school idea emerged from one of these sessions. 

Why is an intersectional approach to activism important, as shown by the history you document in your book?

Ramsey: An intersectional approach to analyzing the meanings of activism is crucial to understanding the contributions and efforts of all who engaged in social justice efforts, whether they were on the front lines or behind the scenes.  An intersectional approach also enables researchers to investigate the often-overlooked dimensions of women’s leadership.

Brunson: My intersectional approach to Black Cuban women’s activism highlights how they forged strategic solidarities to achieve improved working conditions and political reforms. African-descended women activists like the tobacco stemmer Inocencia Valdés, for instance, entered into the mainstream feminist movement to request that upper-class women support educational opportunities for poor women. At the same time, her participation in the feminist movement helped bring laboring women into the national feminist movement to support suffrage rights, among other issues.

During your experience researching and writing your book, what challenges did you face? Are there strategies for working through or around those challenges you’d like to share with other researchers?

Ramsey: As a historian, I pursued a seemingly never-ending search to locate archival documents. Black women’s historical records may not be housed in a traditional archive. I found that I had to act as a detective to discover the hidden archives of subjects, often located in people’s attics and basements. I also had to navigate how to write about a private sorority with limitations on how it released information. I was fortunate to work with a member of the organization who helped me by acting as a guide, but I eventually included what I thought needed to be there to convey the most salient arguments in the book.

Preston: My main challenge was time! Balancing the writing with work and being a mom/wife was a lot. I am incredibly grateful to have a support system that made this book possible. One important strategy that I found was scheduling writing days. I scheduled them every month for the entire month. I tried to stay consistent by dedicating at least 10-20 hours per week to writing until I finished. Also, find a good writing place! I actually paid for a coworking space downtown because it was very peaceful and there were no distractions.

Gillespie: Time and money are perpetual challenges. Institutional grants and department support for course releases and funding for travel and research materials were critical to finishing the book project. 

What did you discover in your research that surprised you?

Ramsey: I was surprised to learn that one of Dr. Maxwell-Roddey’s strategies for success included granting leadership opportunities to those that one would possibly overlook, like young students. She also had the ability to build coalitions with diverse groups of people, from Alice Tate, the granddaughter of a wealthy textile magnate who became a financial benefactor for Maxwell-Roddey’s then African American and African Studies Program, to Black Studies activists like Dr. James Stewart, to national politicians and leaders like Barbara Jordan and Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity. 

Preston: I think that I was most surprised by Mrs. Bethune’s trip to Canada to speak at an Emancipation Day program. I had never heard anything about this! It was also exciting to meet someone who remembered her trip and I interviewed her for the book.

Gillespie: I was surprised by the CEP’s scope. In ten years, the program trained 1413 Black women and men who organized 947 local classes, enrolling 23,500 people. Program administrators estimated that the CEP influenced over 95,000 African Americans to register to vote, or to attempt to register. 

What do you hope readers will take away after reading your book?

Ramsey: To go beyond traditional perceptions of activism to look at race women like Bertha Maxwell-Roddey. To understand that allies can come from all walks of life just as long as they are authentic and dedicated to the shared mission. To succeed, it’s necessary to understand the rules of an organization but also dare to break those same rules if necessary. Lastly, to recognize the efforts of activists like Dr. Maxwell-Roddey, who worked behind the scenes after the marches or the public recognition of civil rights and feminist milestones diminished to develop policies and build institutions to make desegregation work.

Preston: I hope that writers will understand the magnitude of Mrs. Bethune’s work. We must recognize her as a global leader who was concerned about the plight of people of African descent.

Gillespie: When we study the civil rights movement, we can often emphasize prominent male leaders and large-scale demonstrations.  The CEP highlights the important role of local strategies that were often hidden from public view.  The CEP also foregrounds local Black women’s leadership in the movement. 

Brunson: I hope that readers will see my work as part of a growing body of scholarship that focuses on the activism of African-descended women throughout Latin America. In the book, I wanted to highlight the complexities of their social thought and political strategies. Their activist traditions were as much a reflection of global trends—which they contributed to shaping—as they were national dynamics that evolved over time.

Is there something you would like to share with other aspiring authors who may be interested in publishing their work in the future?

Ramsey: I would ask aspiring authors to identify the unsung heroes or Berthas in their own communities and work to identify and preserve their records so that future historians can write about them.

Preston: There are many books that are waiting to be written and we are at a critical time where people need more truth so write the book!

Gillespie: Present at academic conferences. Feedback from colleagues can help refine ideas and provide motivation to keep going. Conferences are also great places to talk with publishers. Develop a thick skin because your first book proposal might not be accepted. Don’t give up. 

Brunson: Researching the history of Black Cuban women’s activism required that I cast a wide net in terms of archival sources. I found myself trying to build stories from archival fragments that included social announcements and photographs. I would encourage aspiring authors to approach the archive in creative ways.