This book studies the experiences and evolution of a significant number of white southern women who confronted white supremacy in the South between the 1920s and the 1960s. For white women reformers, involvement in the struggle for African Americans' civil rights accompanied their own complex process of personal emancipation from gender and racial norms. This study examines in depth the paradoxical identity of these women. As members of the white community in the segregationist South, they belonged to the “oppressor” group. Yet, as women in a patriarchal society, they could also be considered ... More

This book studies the experiences and evolution of a significant number of white southern women who confronted white supremacy in the South between the 1920s and the 1960s. For white women reformers, involvement in the struggle for African Americans' civil rights accompanied their own complex process of personal emancipation from gender and racial norms. This study examines in depth the paradoxical identity of these women. As members of the white community in the segregationist South, they belonged to the “oppressor” group. Yet, as women in a patriarchal society, they could also be considered “victims.” These women’s double identity forced them to confront their native culture while remaining deeply attached to the South. The result was the development of a special brand of female activism, which emancipated them from white patriarchy while combatting white supremacy. Taking the 1954 Brown decision as a pivot, the study draws together two generations embracing different approaches to segregation, from the most moderate to the most radical, but sharing enough characteristics to be identified as a specific subgroup within the southern population. It expands knowledge of the “long” civil rights movement by bringing to light the contribution of a large number of white anti-racist activists who, except for a few of them, have remained unknown to the public.