Local policy in the nation's capital has always influenced national
politics. During Reconstruction, black Washingtonians were
first to exercise their new franchise. But when congressmen
abolished local governance in the 1870s, they set the precedent for
southern disfranchisement. In the aftermath of this process,
memories of voting and citizenship rights inspired a new generation
of Washingtonians to restore local government in their city and lay
the foundation for black equality across the nation. And women were
at the forefront of this effort.
Here Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy tells the story of how African
American women in D.C. transformed civil rights politics in their
freedom struggles between 1920 and 1945. Even though no
resident of the nation's capital could vote, black women seized on
their conspicuous location to testify in Congress, lobby
politicians, and stage protests to secure racial justice, both in
Washington and across the nation. Women crafted a broad vision of
citizenship rights that put economic justice, physical safety, and
legal equality at the forefront of their political campaigns. Black
women's civil rights tactics and victories in Washington, D.C.,
shaped the national postwar black freedom struggle in ways that
still resonate today.