Radicalism at the Crossroads - by Dayo F Gore (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

With the exception of a few iconic moments such as Rosa Parks's 1955 refusal to move to the back of a Montgomery bus, we hear little about what black women activists did prior to 1960. Perhaps this gap is due to the severe repression that radicals of any color in America faced as early as the 1930s, and into the Red Scare of the 1950s. To be radical, and black and a woman was to be forced to the margins and consequently, these women's stories have been deeply buried and all but forgotten by the general public and historians alike.

In this exciting work of historical recovery, Dayo F. Gore unearths
and examines a dynamic, extended network of black
radical women during the early Cold War, including established
Communist Party activists such as Claudia Jones,
artists and writers such as Beulah Richardson, and lesser known
organizers such as Vicki Garvin and Thelma Dale.
These women were part of a black left that laid much of
the groundwork for both the Civil Rights Movement of the
1960s and later strains of black radicalism. Radicalism at
the Crossroads offers a sustained and in-depth analysis of
the political thought and activism of black women radicals
during the Cold War period and adds a new dimension to
our understanding of this tumultuous time in United States
history.

Review Quotes

"[A] unique contribution to American history."-- "Rhetoric & Public Affairs"

"Dayo Gore is a relatively young historian but her brilliant scholarship has already changed how we define the American Left and how we view the face of American radical politics. Her newest book is a powerful addition to her paradigm‒shifting body of work. It is a must‒read for students and scholars of Black and progressive politics, and will provide a vital history lesson for contemporary activists."--Barbara Ransby, author of Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision

"Dayo Gore's groundbreaking study details the "collective political biography" of largely understudied Black communist-oriented women (4). Contributing to the fields of Black Studies, Women's Studies, and History, Gore sheds light on the ways in which these women organized and created tightly knit networks. Utilizing a range of rare sources such as archival papers, FBI files, government documents, oral histories, and interviews, Gore explores the intellectual and political contributions of several women including Claudia Jones, Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, Beulah Richardson, and Vicki Garvin. Identifying these women as "protofeminists," she recognizes the way in which they set the precedent and groundwork for organizing around issues of gender and sexual politics"--National Political Science Review

"Radicalism at the Crossroads is necessary reading for all interested in black history and women's history, and is an invaluable contribution to the growing library of black leftist scholarship."--Carole Boyce Davies "Journal of American History"

"Radicalism at the Crossroadsis an important study that will be extremely useful and challenging to historians of race, gender, social movements, and leftist activism in the United States during the Cold War."-- "Journal of African American History"

"What really shines throughand what constitutes the major scholarly contributionis Gore's excavation of crucial foundations of the more familiar civil rights stories."--Theresa Kaminski "H-Net Reviews"

"With meticulous research, shimmering prose, and laser-like analysis, Dayo F. Gore has added a wholly new and original chapter to the corpus of Black Studies, Womens Studies and the history of the U.S. Left."--Gerald Horne, author of Race Women: The Lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois

"With this rich book, Dayo Gore rewrites the history of black radicalism, feminism, and the American left. She shows us how a network of African American women organized for black womens rights in the 1940s and 1950s and brought their perduring political vision of race, gender, and class to social justice movements of the Cold War era."--Joanne Meyerowitz, Yale University