Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Sentimental Slush” and Mother’s Day

Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the first national Mother’s Day in 1914 as an attempt to honor and show gratitude for biological mothers. Within only a few years, the day had become a profit-driven, superficial commercial holiday directed by florists and mass produced greeting cards. By the Great Depression, even flowers and cards toContinue reading ““Sentimental Slush” and Mother’s Day”

Scottsboro Mothers’ May Day

(An excerpt from my work-in-progress manuscript on the Scottsboro Mothers) Josephine Powell, Ida Norris, Viola Montgomery, and Mamie Williams joined Ada Wright in New York on April 28, greeting a crowd numbered in the thousands at Pennsylvania Station. From there, a welcome committee escorted them to several workers’ homes where they would reside during theirContinue reading “Scottsboro Mothers’ May Day”

Maude White Katz

“She Who Would be Free”: Maude White Katz and the Many Fights for Freedom Maude White Katz did not usually stand down. She had gone up against the roughest cops of New York and Philadelphia and did not go down without a fight. However, in 1954, she was in Atlanta, Georgia as a part ofContinue reading “Maude White Katz”

Eleanor Rye Broady

“We Will Accept No Less”: Eleanor Rye Broady and Re-inventing Radicalism Eleanor Rye Broady was not one to mince words. Even in official correspondences, she wielded an acerbic wit and caustic vocabulary. In one letter to John P. Davis, Executive Secretary of the National Negro Congress, she opened with “If I was to write likeContinue reading “Eleanor Rye Broady”

Romania Ferguson

The “Mother of the Southside”: Romania Ferguson and Chicago’s Black Working Class Romania Ferguson had a dilemma. She was a young labor organizer out of the Southside of Chicago, trained at a labor college, and energetic and capable. However, in 1929, the labor movement was splintering; unionists were increasingly separating into communist or non-communist camps.Continue reading “Romania Ferguson”

Mattielee Woodson Hawkins

“United to Win:” Mattielee Woodson Hawkins and the Auto Industry in Detroit Mattielee Woodson Hawkins was called “outstanding” several times in her life.[1] The Black press, the Civil Rights Congress, and the Daily Worker all acknowledged her contributions to civil rights, labor organizing, and advocacy for immigrants. Yet, one would be hard-pressed to find mentionContinue reading “Mattielee Woodson Hawkins”

The Un-Essay

I’ve recently started to trend away from assigning traditional essays, influence partially by the rise of AI issues, but also because I’ve always been curious about different ways in which historical research can be presented. During my last semester in college, an English professor offered me this chance, and I wrote my most memorable assignment:Continue reading “The Un-Essay”

Mother’s Day

The radical Communist Party is not famous for their stance on mother’s rights, but during the Great Depression, when children starved and milk was poured in drains to control inflation, mothers joined forces with the Communist Party to fight for their children. The most famous instance of Depression-era mother-oriented Party activism was the Scottsboro Mothers,Continue reading “Mother’s Day”