"I talk about Fannie Lou Hamer all the time. It's been 60 years since she made that powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention. She died 13 years later ...from cancer, but her body was just torn down. Even to the end, she was doing so many different things to make the lives of the people in her area better."
"I look to leaders like Dolores Huerta, who continues to challenge us and continues to push forward, but also knowing that that's been a long journey for her because she's seen so many great things. She's also seen some of the worst things as well. I think about Ella Baker. I think about Ida B. Wells. I think about Mary Terrell."
"I think about Maggie Lena Walker, who was an entrepreneur in Richmond [VA]. [She] had a grounding in "We have to provide for our community." She looked for how her resources could provide for the community. It's going to take the community, and I think that's the beauty of being a person of color, being a woman of color, being a Black woman-community is very important to us. That's why we have cousins and aunties who may not be by blood, but they're family."
Fannie Lou Hamer delivered a powerful Democratic National Convention speech sixty years ago and continued grassroots organizing despite severe health challenges. Dolores Huerta remains an active, persistent organizer after a long journey marked by triumphs and setbacks. Ella Baker, Ida B. Wells, Mary Terrell, and Maggie Lena Walker embody traditions of leadership, entrepreneurship, and community responsibility. Maggie Lena Walker prioritized using personal resources to serve her Richmond community. Black women emphasize communal networks—cousins and aunties, chosen kin—and collective care. The legacy of Black women civil rights leaders includes both strategic struggle and sustaining everyday life within ongoing fights for freedom, which is framed as a concrete goal.
Read at Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.
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