- Collection:
- Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives
- Title:
- Davis talks about the relationship between women's rights and civil rights (3:40)
- Creator:
- Davis, Jean
- Contributor to Resource:
- Millen, Susan A. (Susan Ann), 1951-
- Publisher:
- Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 2005-01-22
- Subject:
- Feminism
Social movements
Women's studies - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Coweta County, 33.35346, -84.76337
United States, Georgia, Coweta County, Newnan, 33.38067, -84.79966 - Medium:
- audiocassettes
- Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Born in the segregated South to politically active parents, Jean Davis became politically aware as a young girl in Newnan, Georgia. Her early aspiration was to work as a missionary in Africa but instead, she attended Morris Brown College and taught public school in Atlanta. As a student at Morris Brown, Davis was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and participated in boycotts of Rich's Department Store and sit-ins at Woolworth's. Davis also worked with the A. Philip Randolph Institute as well as the Georgia AFL-CIO and the National AFL-CIO. Through her work with different union organizations and her activism in civil rights, Davis became interested in the Equal Rights Amendment. She felt strongly that the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) was necessary in order to bring union women on board with the ERA and also to establish an organization that would place women in leadership positions. In addition to her work with the ERA, Davis worked on a number of campaigns from local school boards to notable politicians and continues the struggle for human rights.
Aware of racial discrimination at an early age, Davis begins by recounting her childhood in segregated Newnan, Georgia. Her emerging activism, she believes, was influenced by her community-oriented parents and by her cousin, a railroad worker, and union member. Davis discusses her internship at the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and how that led to her work with several different social justice organizations, including the AFL-CIO. Davis articulates her struggle to find a way to support both the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Movement -- which was largely considered to be a white, middle-class effort. She recalls, "I couldn't see how I wanted to be a person who advocated for white women; when white women weren't advocating human rights for everybody." Davis also explains that one of the reasons more women of color were not involved in the ERA was because there was economic disparity between white women and women of color. She says that her opinion of the women's movement changed when Sarah Butler couched the issue not in terms of race or class but in terms of human rights. Davis ends the interview by talking about the importance of community activism for all generations, and discusses the various causes and organizations she continues to support.
Transcript of this excerpt: SM: Talk a little bit about the things you did for women, as well as the black community. JD: Yes, it just came to me when I was talking about Marilyn. You know, I had some struggles working with ERA. The struggle was -- is that I couldn’t see how I wanted to be a person who advocated rights for white women, when white women weren’t advocating human rights for everybody. You know what I’m saying? And as I looked at it, it was like, “Oh! But it’s all the same.” But it was a struggle. I want you to know that that was a struggle for me. Sarah Butler is a person that helped me to understand, this is about us as human beings; it is not about black, white, yellow or green; women v black. It was about humanness, you know? And Sarah Butler was a person that helped me to see that. If I hadn’t had a Sarah Butler in my life, I might not have seen it. I might have been still very angry and not wanting to participate. Sarah was a banner-waver for human rights (laughs), you know what I’m saying? And you couldn’t be with her and it not become contagious. She would talk about what was going on with ERA and I would go, “umhum, umhum.” But she’d also listen to my point of view, which was very helpful to me. We had to convince people that ERA was a human rights issue and it was not a white woman’s issue. You understand what I’m saying? Because when you look at it, based on all of the things that I’ve said, how women are still -- I don’t care whether they’re black or white women – we’re still not able to -- what do they call it? The glass ceiling? So it was a human rights issue, and if I were doing what I said I was doing about wanting to help make a difference in the lives of people, then I couldn’t be prejudiced about that. That was hard to overcome and to look at. You know, here I am, this do-gooder for human rights, but yet I don’t want to be involved in the ERA. You know? It was like, let’s check you out and see what’s going on. As I came to understand that it was a human rights issue, I was able to convince other people that, yes, this is something that we ought to be involved in. And it wasn’t on a large scale. It was on a small scale, because a lot of people had the same mentality that I had about – “Where were they when we were doing civil rights? Why didn’t they come out and hold banners with us?” So it was like, okay, if they didn’t give, I’m not going to give. But that was not the right process. And I found that out and I was glad that I did -- that I was able to get out there and do the same thing that I’ve been doing for other issues that were unjust. And after I got involved, it was like, "Oh yeah, this is where I belong." [Laughs] It’s another human rights issue and I’m so glad I did, because that was another part of me, as a whole person. And I think, of another part of my journey. So I did a lot with the ERA, at the Capitol, doing things to help other people come along. Because that was -- I had to convince people that this is something you wanted to get involved in. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/coles/id/2038
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/iiif/2/coles:2038/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to this item is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this item available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Extent:
- 51 pages (two cassette tapes)
- Original Collection:
- Georgia Women's Movement Project Collection
Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
