There are many challenges women experienced in the past, and they suffered, which lowered their self-esteem in society. To the worst of it, the black women suffered the most because white supremacy was on their shoulders and male supremacy also dominated them. The club emerged in the late 19th century with the brave women like Bellwether Ida B. Wells and others who came later like Claudia Jones who sacrified for the better future of women in American society. During these times, women had no rights, especially the black ones, and they were just a subject of labor and sex. Therefore, they formed the Black women’s club movement to fight for their place and respect in society. Their political goals were to fight racism in American society and transform, define and shape public policy. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was also another group formed in 1909 to fight the same vices and many more in the American community.
The main political agenda of the Black Women’s Club Movement was to fight racism at all costs in American society. The black women were tired of discrimination and suffering brought by the color of their skin in the American space, where they were viewed as workers, sex toys, and childbearing kits by the white community (Oxford University Press, 2019, 670). They saw their potential and realized that the color of their skin was not the limit to what they could achieve in the general American society. They were giving birth to many children, and their children were taken away from them and sold away to be enslaved by their enslavers. Moreover, some black women realize that when given the same opportunity in society as their white counterparts, they could perform even better than some of them. Therefore, the movement was created to combat racism in American society to give black women the same opportunity.
Furthermore, another political role of the Black Women’s Club Movement was to bring change to the public policy in the United States of America. The public policy never recognized the black community, especially women, and discriminated against them. They were not allowed to hold public offices and receive services designated to the public. Moreover, women were never allowed to own companies, even if it meant their husbands left it for them because they were considered the minority in the society (Giardina, 2018, 736). The land was the source of wealth in those days; however, women were not allowed by the law, and they could not inherit them, especially the women of color. In addition, women had no right to vote in American society, which means that they could not run for any public office either. Therefore, because of all these inequalities, women started the Black Women’s Club Movement to fight all these vices in American society to achieve equality.
In addition, another political goal of the Black Women’s Club Movement is to fight poverty among the minority in the United States of America. Several women and minority community members are poor because they do not have equal opportunities in the country. Therefore, the civil group is using all its means to eradicate poverty by promoting equality in the country (Taylor, 2020, 510). Moreover, many education scholarships are available in the U.S.A., but many minority children cannot access the scholarships. They lack options to pay for their school fees; hence they drop out. The situation causes poverty because they cannot compete for the job opportunities as the educated community members, which causes poverty in the American community. Therefore, they were fighting poverty in the U.S.A. to bring equality in the country.
The difference between the political goals of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Black Women’s Club Movement is that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) fights for the civil right of the people of color through a democratic process. At the same time, the Black Women’s Club Movement is also fighting for the same changes but through demonstrations and other civil protests (Ramdani, 2015, 1900). For instance, there were lynchings of the people of color without a proper cause. Still, NAACP championed change and wanted the people of color to be secured through the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the constitution of the United States of America. Moreover, the NAACP could go to court to channel a complaint that they think is not fair to the minority communities in the country. Therefore, it is known that the NAACP uses the official channels to fight for civil changes in American society. In contrast, the Black Women’s Club Movement uses protests to fight for a change.
Conclusion
The Black Women’s Club Movement is one of the most critical civil organizations that championed the right of women and the minority community in the United States of America. The group was formed by brave black women whose aim was to eradicate racism, changes in public policy, and poverty among the minority communities. Moreover, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is another civil group that also fought for the rights of the minority community through a democratic process in the U.S.A.
References
Giardina, C. (2018). MOW to NOW: Black feminism resets the chronology of the founding of modern feminism. Feminist Studies, 44(3), 736. https://doi.org/10.15767/feministstudies.44.3.0736
Oxford University Press. (2019). Interchange: Women’s Suffrage, the nineteenth amendment, and the right to vote. Journal Of American History, 106(3), 662-694. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaz506
Ramdani, F. (2015). Afro-American Women activists as true negotiators in the international arena (1893-1945). European Journal of American Studies, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.4000/ejas.10646
Taylor, J. (2020). Structural racism and maternal health among black women. Journal Of Law, Medicine &Amp; Ethics, 48(3), 506-517. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073110520958875
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