Although significant scholarship exists on the role of Black women during the Civil Rights Movement, much remains to be learned about their organizing traditions and intellectual labor. This panel examines Black women activists and their legacies across the southern United States, moving from Florida and South Carolina to Mississippi and Washington D.C. Some figures are household names, while others, though prominent in local communities, remain unfamiliar to many. Dr. JoCora Moore highlights the activism of Modjeska Monteith Simkins, the “Mother of the South Carolina Movement.” Her paper demonstrates Simkins’ steadfast commitment to activism, serving as a testament to her leadership and the power of community organizing. Dr. Allison Mitchell explores Black women’s organizing in St. Augustine, Florida, through the activism of civil rights leader Cora Tyson. Emphasizing her grassroots organizing tradition, her paper highlights the importance of everyday activism in the 1960s—the decisions and interactions that truly supported local civil rights efforts. Dr. Christina J. Thomas introduces the audience to Head Start teachers in Humphreys County, Mississippi, who operated centers for eighteen months without federal funding. Her paper examines the organizing tradition and teaching praxis of poor and working-class Black educators employed by Friends of Children of Mississippi (FCM), a grassroots preschool program established in October 1966. Lastly, scholar Jessica A. Rucker’s paper, “To Become a Part of a Society That is Meaningful,” studies the impact of Black women’s activism during the 1950s and 1960s on contemporary struggles, connecting the past to the present. This paper gestures toward a history of the Ella Jo Baker Intentional Community Cooperative (EJBICC), rooted in the intellectual and political labor of two Black feminist activists oriented towards socialism and grassroots organizing.

Through this panel, audience members interested in gender history and civil rights will gain a deeper understanding of these Black women activists and their legacies across the southern United States, including their organizing traditions, leadership, and the impact of their activism from the 1950s and 1960s to present-day struggles.