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


  •  BAR Book Forum: Lindsey Green-Simms’ Book, “Queer African Cinemas”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Lindsey Green-Simms’ Book, “Queer African Cinemas”
    09 Mar 2022
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Lindsey Green-Simms. Green-Simms is Associate Professor of Literature at American…
  • Warfare state of disunion
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Warfare state of disunion
    09 Mar 2022
                                                           …
  • When Did the Ukraine War Begin?
    Roger D. Harris
    When Did the Ukraine War Begin?
    08 Mar 2022
    The conflict in Ukraine did not start in February 2022. Its roots go back to the 2014 US coup against the elected president of that country.
  • #SomosLosNadie
    Lina Lucumi Mosquera and Lizeth Sinisterra Ossa
    #SomosLosNadie
    08 Mar 2022
    Francia Marquez is a Black Colombian woman, an environmentalist, and presidential candidate. Her campaign represents "the nobodies, those who have not had a choice."
  • Two Centuries of War Against Haiti!
    Berthony Dupont
    Two Centuries of War Against Haiti!
    08 Mar 2022
    The Haitian people have been targeted by more powerful nations ever since they dared to secure their freedom two hundred years ago.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us