ABSTRACT
US Black women’s long-standing participation in organized political activities fosters a rethinking of the ways in which many Black women conceptualize and use power. Participating in civil rights organizations, labor unions, feminist groups, boycotts, and revolts exemplifies this dimension of Black women’s activism. Possessing neither the opportunity nor the resources to confront oppressive institutions directly, the majority of US Black women have engaged in struggles for group survival. Research on Black women community leaders reinforces this notion that Black women work for institutional transformation in characteristic ways. Presenting either struggles for group survival or struggles for institutional transformation as being more fundamental than the other seems shortsighted. Examining Black women’s leadership in organizations whose mission is institutional change offers a route to examining these larger questions. Different historical eras provide new challenges and opportunities for US Black women’s activism.
