With her fist raised :

Title :

With her fist raised : Dorothy Pitman Hughes and the transformative power of black community activism / Laura L. Lovett.

Title:

With her fist raised :

Author:

Lovett, Laura L.

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

xi, 161 pages, 4 unnumbered leaves of plates ; 24 cm

ISBN:

9780807008898

Production / Publication Information:

Boston : Beacon Press, [2021]

Contents:

Introduction -- The Ridleys of Lumpkin, Georgia -- Finding Her Voice "Up South" -- Child Care, Community Care -- "Sisters Under the Skin": Taking the Stage in the Women's Movement -- "Racism with Roses": Miss New York City and the Transition to Harlem -- Whose Empowerment? Black Women's Business and the Politics of Gentrification -- Epilogue: Home Again.

Summary:

"The first biography of Dorothy Pitman Hughes, co-founder of Ms. Magazine and trailblazing Black feminist activist whose work made children, race, and welfare rights central to the women's movement"--

Bibliography note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Language:

English

Genre:

Biographies.

Geographic Term:

United States -- Social conditions -- 1945-

United States -- Race relations.

United States -- Politics and government.

Personal Subject:

Hughes, Dorothy Pitman.

Subject Term:

African American feminists -- Biography.

African American women civic leaders -- Biography.

African American businesspeople -- Biography.

Feminism -- United States.

SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	BIOGRAPHY HUGHES, DO.	31330008993200	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Carlisle - Gleason Public Library	BIO HUGHES	32117002053266	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dracut - Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library	BIO/HUGHES, D.	31482002935024	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dunstable Free Public Library	B HUG	32118001035619	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Haverhill Public Library	BIOG/HUGHES D	31479007431991	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lowell - Pollard Memorial Library	B HUGHES, D.	31481005501551	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Middleton - Flint Public Library	B HUGHES	32126001780209	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	BIOGRAPHY HUGHES D	32128003893311	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library	BIO HUGHES	31478010159805	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Topsfield Town Library	BIO HUGHES	32133002546159	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Historian Laura Lovett weaves together a biography of an activist who was intersectional to the core revealing a remarkable legacy that few have known until now and will appeal to readers interested in urban studies, activism, and Black women's history.

Dorothy Pitman Hughes was a transformative community organizer in New York City in the 1970s, who shared the stage with Gloria Steinem for five years, captivating audiences around the country. After leaving rural Georgia in the 1950s, she moved to New York, determined to fight for civil rights and equality. Lovett traces Pitman Hughes' transformation into a powerhouse activist determined to take on the needs of her community and build a platform for empowerment. She created lasting change by revitalizing her West Side neighborhood, a community subjected to racial discrimination, with nonexistent childcare and sub-standard housing, in which poverty, drug use, lack of job training, and the effects of the Vietnam War were evident She imagined and then created a high quality child care center which also offered job training, adult education classes, a Youth Action corps, housing assistance and food resources. Pitman Hughes' realization that the area could be revitalized by actively engaging and including the community was prescient and is startlingly relevant. As her stature and influence grew to a national level, Pitman Hughes went from the West Side to spending several years traversing the country with Steinem and educating people about feminism, childcare, and race. Pitman Hughes's community activism was transformed when she moved to Harlem in the 1970s to counter gentrification. She bought the franchise to the Miss Greater New York City pageant in order to demonstrate that black was beautiful. She also opened an office supply store and became a powerful voice for Black women entrepreneurs and Black-owned business only to be thwarted by plans for economic development that favored national chains over local businesses. Throughout every phase of her life, Pitman Hughes' understood the transformative power of activism with the Black community.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

University of Pittsburgh history professor Lovett (Conceiving the Future) revisits the social justice activism of Ms. magazine cofounder Dorothy Pitman Hughes in this brisk biography. Born in 1938 and raised in rural Georgia, Hughes moved to New York City as a nightclub singer in 1957. She also worked part-time for the civil rights organization CORE and, in 1967, founded the West 80th Street Day Care Center, where she created "economically and racially integrated classes" and organized a campaign to stop local businesses from raising food prices just before welfare checks were issued. Gloria Steinem profiled the center for New York magazine in 1969, and her subsequent speaking tours with Hughes illustrated the possibility for a racially integrated feminist movement, Lovett writes, though Steinem became the representative face of feminism, which in turn became synonymous with white women's needs. Meanwhile, Hughes remained committed to Black empowerment, promoting Black-owned businesses and community activism in Harlem; her hometown of Charles Junction, Ga.; and in Jacksonville, Fla., where she retired. Lovett skimps somewhat on the personal details of Hughes's life, but makes a persuasive case for her importance to the fights for gender and racial equality and child welfare. Readers will cherish this accessible portrait of a lesser-known civil rights figure. (Jan.)

Booklist Review

Pictured with Gloria Steinem in one of the most iconic images of the second-wave feminist movement is Dorothy Pitman Hughes. While many could recognize her due to the famous photograph, mainstream white feminism has ignored her enormous contributions to the movement. Lovett brings the attention deserved to this important woman and the work she did to advance the rights of all women, including creating the first shelter for battered women in New York City, working as a community organizer, and educating people across the country on race, childcare, and feminism. Lovett's storytelling brings Pitman Hughes's career and activism to the center of the narrative, ready to inspire a future generation of feminist leaders. This biography paints a vivid picture of the struggles Pitman Hughes fought against as a Black female activist, and brings readers right alongside her in her work. In this concise but evocative biography, Lovett has carved out a place for Pitman Hughes that gives her the honor and prestige she deserves.Women in Focus: The 19th in 2020

Library Journal Review

Every feminist knows the iconic photograph of Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes raising their fists in interracial solidarity. While readers know Steinem's life inside and out, the story of Hughes (b. 1938), and her accomplishments as an activist, have faded into obscurity. Historian Lovett's (Conceiving the Future; When We Were Free to Be) biography of Hughes brings much-needed attention to her life and highlights her struggles with both racism and sexism. Born in rural Georgia, Hughes moved to New York as a teenager to pursue a career as a nightclub singer and worked as a maid to support herself. After struggling to find childcare for her children, she opened her own daycare center. It became a model for community-oriented centers and she became an activist for that cause, meeting Gloria Steinem when the journalist interviewed her for a story. The two feminists toured the country speaking together for years, although Steinem received much more attention. Hughes went on to own a copy and office supply store in Harlem and fight a losing battle against gentrification there, retiring to Florida where she still lives today. VERDICT This essential, well-written biography fills a huge gap in the history of American feminism.--Kate Stewart, Tucson

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Chapter 1 The Ridleys: Growing Up in Georgia	p. 7
Chapter 2 Finding Her Voice: Moving "Up South"	p. 19
Chapter 3 Childcare, Community Care: Activism in New York City	p. 41
Chapter 4 "Sisters Under the Skin": Taking the Stage in the Women's Movement	p. 61
Chapter 5 "Racism with Roses": Miss New York City and the Transition to Harlem	p. 79
Chapter 6 Whose Empowerment?: Black Women's Business and the Politics of Gentrification	p. 91
Epilogue Home Again	p. 115
Acknowledgments	p. 119
Notes	p. 123
Bibliography	p. 141
Image Credits	p. 149
Index	p. 151

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents