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


  • BLM Chapters Demand “Accountability” from Trio that Cashed in on the Movement
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    BLM Chapters Demand “Accountability” from Trio that Cashed in on the Movement
    03 Dec 2020
    Ten chapters of the national Black Lives Matter organization are in open revolt against the individuals that have treated the mass movement as their personal vehicle for upward political, prof
  • Ethiopia: Civil War and Nation Building in the 21st Century
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ethiopia: Civil War and Nation Building in the 21st Century
    02 Dec 2020
    In light of the Ethiopian central government’s military clash with regional forces in Tigray province, Ann Garrison speaks with a member of the Oromo people, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia.
  • Freedom Rider: Israel and the U.S. Assassinate Peace
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Israel and the U.S. Assassinate Peace
    02 Dec 2020
    Israel and Saudi Arabia are doing everything in their power to prevent Biden from rejoining the nuclear agreement -- and Biden’s team has nothing to say.
  • The Black Agenda Review: A Manifesto of First Principles
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    The Black Agenda Review: A Manifesto of First Principles
    02 Dec 2020
    The Black Agenda Review will function as a weekly supplement to the regular editorial content of the Black Agenda Report.
  • Will This Be the Radicalization of Black Lives Matter?
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Will This Be the Radicalization of Black Lives Matter?
    02 Dec 2020
    Ten Black Lives Matter chapters are demanding that those who have amassed millions of dollars in the movement’s name submit to both a financial and political accounting.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us