Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

World History (Ph.D.)

Department

History

First Advisor

Kristin M Szylvian

Second Advisor

Lara Vapnek

Third Advisor

Philip Misevich

Abstract

This dissertation studies the major social and political events of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of seven African American women, Mary Church Terrell, Amy Jacques Garvey, Claudia Jones, Salaria Kea, Eslanda Robeson, Maida Springer and Shirley Graham Du Bois. It brings to light the significance of their efforts in the fight against racism, fascism, colonialism, apartheid and neo-colonialism in the United States and abroad. As the history of the Black liberation struggle was mostly dominated by male historians and writers, this work demonstrates that amongst others, these seven African American women made gender an important component to the struggle for freedom, equality and justice. Through an intersectionality of race, gender and class, they demonstrated that the struggle for theirs and other African Americans’ full civil rights could not be achieved unless the freedom of those living under fascism, colonialism and other forms of oppressive conditions were realized. These women’s responses evolved over the decades as the social, economic and political conditions changed. As the early twentieth century was marked by racism following the rise of the Klu Klux Klan and Jim Crow Laws, not only were Black women negatively stereotyped, but African American soldiers encountered worse violence and discrimination on their return from World War One in 1918. The responses to these conditions did not challenge the political structures but called for reforms through race uplift measures that included education, Victorian morals and etiquette with the intention of proving that African Americans were worthy of full citizenship. The failure of reforms, respectability politics and the Back to Africa Movement, gave rise to Black left feminists from the 1930s to the 70s who believed a more radical approach to racism was necessary.

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