#hiddenherstory
#OnThisDay in 1965, Vivian Malone becomes the first African American graduate of the University of Alabama. In 1963, Malone and John Hood became the first African Americans to enroll at the University of Alabama. On registration day, Governor George Wallace blocked the door—planning to prevent their entry and uphold his promise of “Segregation now, segregation today, segregation forever.” President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11111, federalizing the National Guard to command Wallace step aside. Malone graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in business management.
African American women have always been part of the African American struggle for full equality. Early freedom fighters like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Anna Julia Cooper fought against multiple oppressions.
In our new YouTube video, scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw explains how the intersections of these oppressions manifest today in the term she coined, “intersectionality.”
In the decades following the Civil War, many African American women found employment as domestic workers. During this time, despite the intense labor and resources their work required, the average black laundress earned wages from $4 to $8 a month.
In the Summer of 1881, twenty African American laundresses formed the Washing Society to advocate for higher wages, respect, and autonomy over their work. The Washing Society was a trade organization that used door-to-door canvassing to recruit laundresses in Atlanta into the organization. In just three weeks, 3,000 black women laundresses in Atlanta, Georgia went on strike.
The Washing Society members successfully established a flat rate of $1 per dozen pounds of wash, effectively raising their own wages in spite of the City Council’s imposed fees, and local authorities’ arrests and home visits. Other workers in the domestic industry such as cooks, maids, and nurse were inspired by the efforts of the Washing Society. The strike served as a reminder to the community, of the importance of African American labor in the post-Civil War South.
