Black Sororities’ Interactions With the Black Feminist Movement: Respectability and Interstitial Politics

• In Event: 1154 - Women of Color and Social Movements

Abstract

The post-civil rights era was a transformative period for Black organizations. In this period, organizations had to contend with the changing cultural and political terrain of the United States. Typically social movement scholars have examined movements at the level of the state, paying minimal attention to the relationship between movements and organizations. This paper examines Black Greek-letter organization sororities’ interactions with the Black feminist movement from 1968-1980 as a case of how mainstream voluntary associations interact with radical movements. Through a comparative historical analysis of two Black sororities, I find that while one sorority engages in racial uplift and respectability politics – frames that the organizations had historically engaged with – the other sorority begins to incorporate Black feminist frames and language into their organization. I conclude the paper by discussing the way that examining the incorporation of Black feminist frames can help to extend upon the concept of interstitial politics.

Author

• Aisha Ariantique Upton, University of Minesota