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


  • Voices Are Raised Against the NBA Launching Its New African League in Rwanda
    David Zirin
    Voices Are Raised Against the NBA Launching Its New African League in Rwanda
    06 May 2021
    Human rights groups are concerned that using Rwanda as a backdrop would provide a public relations boost for its autocratic leader.
  • Police and the License to Kill
    Matthew D. Lassiter
    Police and the License to Kill
    06 May 2021
    Detroit police killed hundreds of unnamed Blacks in response to the civil rights movement, revealing why most of today’s proposals to make police more accountable are bound to fail, and how we can
  • The US’s Biggest County Jails Are Sites of Extreme Environmental Injustice
    Adam Mahoney
    The US’s Biggest County Jails Are Sites of Extreme Environmental Injustice
    06 May 2021
    After first being forced to live in chemically toxic communities, Black and Brown people are then incarcerated in jails where they cannot escape some of the worst pollution in the nation.
  • The Black Panther Party Has Never Been More Popular, but Actual Black Panthers Have Been Forgotten
    Santi Elijah Holley
    The Black Panther Party Has Never Been More Popular, but Actual Black Panthers Have Been Forgotten
    06 May 2021
    The name Black Panther is a box-office draw, but can cinematic sympathy be extended to the Panthers who are still living and breathing in this country’s prisons?
  •  African Servant of Empire Dies in Chad Fighting
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    African Servant of Empire Dies in Chad Fighting
    03 May 2021
    The death of Chad president Idris Deby in fighting with rebels last week is a loss for the US and France, the top imperial powers in Africa, said Dr.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us