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


  • A History of Unemployment and the Search for Solutions
    Philip Harvey
    A History of Unemployment and the Search for Solutions
    21 Apr 2021
    The only time the United States has experienced real full employment was during World Wars I and II.
  • Study Indicates the Capitol Riots were Motivated by Racism and White Resentment, not 'Election Theft'
    Dartagnan
    Study Indicates the Capitol Riots were Motivated by Racism and White Resentment, not 'Election Theft'
    21 Apr 2021
    A consistent majority of the insurrectionists lived in counties that had rapidly diversified in recent years.
  • Black Worker Centers: Building Workplace Power in the Communities
    Matthew Cunnington-Cook
    Black Worker Centers: Building Workplace Power in the Communities
    21 Apr 2021
    As organized labor deals with the defeat at Amazon in Alabama, another type of base-building power beckons.
  • Bessemer Amazon Union Drive: An Interview with the Lead Organizer
    Luis Feliz Leon and Joshua Brewer
    Bessemer Amazon Union Drive: An Interview with the Lead Organizer
    21 Apr 2021
    “We feel like we got a heck of a start, and we’re proud of it, and we’re proud of the workers that are willing to continue that fight.”
  • The Union Battle at Amazon Is Far from Over
    Alec MacGillis
    The Union Battle at Amazon Is Far from Over
    21 Apr 2021
    Amazon is increasingly defining what entry-level labor now looks like in America.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us