ABSTRACT
This chapter illuminates Black women's struggles for democracy within an overtly political framework from 1940 until 1965. In order to illuminate the struggles of Black women activists to realize freedom and justice, it argues that Black women's constant struggles against inequalities rife throughout the nation revealed their perception of US democracy as unfinished or—as Rosa Parks aptly put it—"work to be done". The persistent struggles of Black women activists during the period to secure their equal rights suggest that they had their sights firmly set on realizing democracy and were prepared to struggle in order to secure their constitutional rights. Black women's contributions to the long Civil Rights Movement reflected a broader struggle to transform democracy. Black women activists were committed to realizing a more democratic society "with liberty and justice" for all. For this reason, Blacks were not the only recipients of the strides made by these activists and other social justice advocates.
