Separate female institutions gave black Baptist women greater authority
Evidence
Thus the attainment of denominational power reflected the combined results of racial solidarity and women’s solidarity. The success of the overall movement depended, in no small measure, upon what Estelle Freedman calls the “separatist strategy of female institution building.” Moreover, the existence of a female community and its mobilization into a separate organizational base commanded greater authority and respect for women. Black women found themselves in the unique position of being at once separate and allied with black men in the struggle for racial advancement while separate and allied with white women in the struggle for gender equality. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 389
Categorization
- DEFINE: Introduces Freedman’s separatist-strategy concept explaining why separate female organizing empowered rather than marginalized women.
- XREF: The dual alliance position (with black men and white women) foreshadows Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality language. — connects to: Black Baptist women guarded their institutional autonomy against male intrusion — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 363; Black Baptist women’s state conventions were fully self-governing, male-excluding organizations — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 363; Black Baptist women prized institutions owned and staffed by their own race — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 308 (+13 more)
Broader Connections
- Black Baptist women prized institutions owned and staffed by their own race
#expands(0.86) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 308 - Black Baptist women actively promoted racial separatism and self-reliance
#expands(0.78) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 331 - Black Baptist women held a double consciousness of simultaneous separateness and alliance
#qualifies(0.72) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 390