Fannie Lou Harner and Others Term Paper

They both spent their lives working for the rights of African-American women and challenging anything that got in the way.

As the women built stepping stones for each other, each women in the Black Freedom Movement began the next logical course of action in the fight for freedom. Septima Clark attended several of the workshops of Amy Garvey and came away with a sense of urgency to contribute. By this time of course the rights of Blacks to vote was a given and beatings in the street for speaking their mind was not allowed. Clark however, had a mission of her own and that was to attack and dismantle the segregated school system if she could. This was during 1960's when many of the nation's districts were still divided into Black schools and White schools.

It was a natural choice, given her love of teaching and education and the way her life organically linked these with activism. In 1918, 20-year-old Septima Clark was busy collecting 20,000 signatures from Black residents of Charleston, South Carolina, to petition the school district to hire Black teachers, and in 1927 was agitating for equitable salaries for them (Wiley, 1998). Thirty years later the school board got its revenge by promptly dismissing her and withholding her 30-year pension when she refused to conceal her membership in the NAACP. But that was after she had helped do the legal and organizational groundwork that resulted in the 1954 Supreme Court decision outlawing separate and unequal schools (Wiley, 1998)."

Clark didn't go away quietly however, and instead began holding workshops in leadership. She and Harner and the others all held this in common. They each held classes or seminars to encourage the Black women of America to fight for their rights and to get laws changed so that they could have more rights.

CONCLUSION

Women have always been a driving force in the civil rights movement. The Black Freedom Movement was a movement that promoted the rights of Blacks to become equal to the Whites in America. Fannie Harner set the wheels in motion when she not only refused to stop voting but also encouraged other Black women to pass the test and vote as well. Following her lead others took the reins and chose areas that they wanted to promote. Ella Baker, Amy Garvey and Septima all worked toward the betterment of life for Blacks and in particular Black females residing within the U.S.A. These women lit the path for millions of Black followers to walk and that path has led to the equality they have today.

References

Fairclough, Adam (2005) Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision Alabama Review,

Mitchell, Ralph (1995) From a woman's perspective: Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1975)

Ransby, Barb (2003) Ella Baker: A fighter for peace and….....