Casting Light on Womanist Legacies of Brown Hidden Behind the Shadows of Race Men

• In Event: Reframing Racial and Ethnic Histories: Important Legacies From the Mid-20th Century

Abstract

From historical and womanist perspectives, this paper highlights the woefully overshadowed contributions of three Black women educators to Brown v. Board of Education utilizing independently collected archival data and narrative studies: Mamie Phipps Clark, an early childhood educator, a humanitarian, and a scholar; Marion Wright Thompson, a higher educator, scholar, social worker, and journal editor; and Ruby Jackson Gainer, a schoolteacher and teachers union leader. Their geographic influence spanned Washington, D.C., Newark, New Jersey, New York City, and Birmingham, Alabama. Arguably, Brown would not have materialized without their noteworthy activist, legal, and scholarly antecedents that had profound and fundamental bearings on this landmark case. Their legacies and scholarship were eclipsed, however their lives were interconnected by race men.

Authors

• Lois McFadyen Christensen, The University of Alabama - Birmingham

• Tondra L. Loder-Jackson, The University of Alabama - Birmingham

• Hilton Kelly, Davidson College