Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

“Respectable” Black Women Fought Mass Incarceration
Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
02 Mar 2020
🖨️ Print Article

Back in the days when 90 percent of southern prison inmates were Black, socially conservative Black clubwomen fought for prison reform, believing that “putting Black women in jail was hurting the Black community,” said Nikki Brown, professor of history at the University of New Orleans. The National Association of Colored Women, who practiced what we today call “respectability” politics, played a key role in creating alternatives to incarceration, said Brown, who authored an article titled, “Keeping Black Motherhood Out of Prison: Prison Reform and Woman-Saving in the Progressive Era.”

Mass Black Incarceration

Related Podcasts

Involuntary Servitude in the Prison System
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Involuntary Servitude in the Prison System
24 June 2022
Savannah Eldrige is the founder of Coaliton to Abolish Slave
White Capitalist Law vs “Uncontrollable Blackness”
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
White Capitalist Law vs “Uncontrollable Blackness”
01 September 2020
The United States “criminalizes Black Americans,” but Black men “are not looking to be controlled” by this racist system, said Douglas
 Getting Out the Word: #PrisonsKill
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Getting Out the Word: #PrisonsKill
25 August 2020
The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, IWOC, “is committed to the militant organizing of prisoners that takes its leadership and focus from

More Stories


  • Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
    23 Mar 2022
    Joe Biden and congress have plenty of money for the military industrial complex, but only austerity for the people. The imperialist machine is always fed.
  • A war is not a war…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    A war is not a war…
    23 Mar 2022
                                                         
  • BAR Book Forum: Interview with Charles Athanasopoulos
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Interview with Charles Athanasopoulos
    23 Mar 2022
    As part of the Black Agenda Report Book Forum, we interview scholars about a recent article they’ve written for either an academic journal or popular publication. We ask these scholars to discuss…
  • BAR Book Forum: Aria S. Halliday’s “Buy Black”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Aria S. Halliday’s “Buy Black”
    23 Mar 2022
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Aria S. Halliday. Halliday is Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender and…
  • Lies and Times: How The New York Times Gives Cover to Fascists
    Jacqueline Luqman
    Lies and Times: How The New York Times Gives Cover to Fascists
    23 Mar 2022
    Much of the New York Times reporting on Ukraine doesn't meet basic journalistic standards. The "newspaper of record" is in fact a record of ruling class and state apparatus narratives.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us