TY - GEN T1 - Gateway to equality : Black women and the struggle for economic justice in St. Louis T2 - Civil rights and the struggle for Black equality in the twentieth century. A1 - Ervin, Keona K. LA - English PP - Lexington, Kentucky PB - University Press of Kentucky YR - 2017 UL - https://ebooks.jgu.edu.in/Record/jstor_eba_ocn990142234 AB - "St. Louis, Missouri, was caught in the stifling grip of the Great Depression. For the next thirty years, the Gateway City continued to experience significant urban decline as its population swelled and the area's industries stagnated. Over these decades, many African American citizens in the region found themselves struggling financially and fighting for access to profitable jobs and suitable working conditions. To combat ingrained racism, crippling levels of poverty, and sub-standard living conditions, black women worked together to form a community-based culture of resistance-fighting for employment, a living wage, dignity, representation, and political leadership. Gateway to Equality investigates black working-class women's struggle for economic justice from the rise of New Deal liberalism in the 1930s to the social upheavals of the 1960s. Keona K. Ervin explains that the conditions in twentieth-century St. Louis were conducive to the rise of this movement since the city's economy was based on industries that employed women, such as textiles and food processing. As part of the Great Migration, black women migrated to the city at a higher rate than their male counterparts, and labor and black freedom movements relied less on a charismatic, male leadership model. This made it possible for women to emerge as visible and influential leaders. In this study, Ervin presents a stunning account of the ways in which black working-class women fused racial and economic justice. By illustrating that their politics played an important role in defining urban political agendas, her work sheds light on an unexplored aspect of community activism and illuminates the complexities of the overlapping civil rights and labor movements during the first half of the twentieth century"--Provided by publisher. CN - F474.S29 N4334 2017eb SN - 9780813169866 SN - 0813169860 SN - 9780813169873 SN - 0813169879 SN - 9780813168838 SN - 081316883X KW - African American women : Missouri : Saint Louis : Social conditions : 20th century. KW - African American women : Missouri : Saint Louis : Economic conditions : 20th century. KW - Working class women : Missouri : Saint Louis : History : 20th century. KW - Equality : Missouri : Saint Louis : History : 20th century. KW - Social justice : Missouri : Saint Louis : History : 20th century. KW - Saint Louis (Mo.) : Social conditions : 20th century. KW - Saint Louis (Mo.) : Race relations : 20th century. KW - Saint Louis (Mo.) : Economic conditions : 20th century. KW - Noires américaines : Missouri : Saint Louis : Conditions sociales : 20e siècle. KW - Noires américaines : Missouri : Saint Louis : Conditions économiques : 20e siècle. KW - Justice sociale : Missouri : Saint Louis : Histoire : 20e siècle. KW - SOCIAL SCIENCE : Discrimination & Race Relations. KW - SOCIAL SCIENCE : Minority Studies. KW - POLITICAL SCIENCE : Civil Rights. KW - African American women : Economic conditions KW - African American women : Social conditions KW - Economic history KW - Equality KW - Race relations KW - Social conditions KW - Social justice KW - Working class women KW - Missouri : Saint Louis KW - 1900-1999 KW - History ER -