An essential contribution to twentieth-century political history, Black Women and Politics in New York City documents African American women in New York City fighting for justice, civil rights, and equality in the turbulent world of formal politics from the suffrage and women's rights movements to the feminist era of the 1970s.

Historian and human rights activist Julie A. Gallagher deftly examines how race, gender, and the structure of the state itself shape outcomes, and exposes the layers of power and discrimination at work in American society. She combines her analysis with a look at the career of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first to run for president on a national party ticket. In so doing, she rewrites twentieth-century women's history and the dominant narrative arcs of feminist history that hitherto ignored African American women and their accomplishments.

| Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Fighting for Rights in the 1910s and 1920s 2. Strides Forward in Times of Crisis in the 1930s and 1940s 3. Pushing Through the Doors of Resistance in the 1950s 4. Feminism, Civil Rights, and Liberalism in the 1960s 5. On the Shirley Chisholm Trail in the 1960s and 1970s Conclusion Appendix Notes Index | "Through a strong narrative of African American women's political activism in New York City, Julie A. Gallagher fills a major gap in the historical literature. In particular, Gallagher's focus on party politics gives us a fresh perspective. A major contribution in the fields of African American, women's, and political history."—Victoria W. Wolcott, author of Remaking Respectability: African-American Women in Interwar Detroit
"Gallagher has written an insightful, in-depth narrative and analysis of the interconnectedness of race and gender discrimination in US society. . . . an important contribution to both black women's history and New York State's political history. Highly recommended."—Choice

"An important contribution to the scholarship by illuminating the powerful ways African American women challenged the racialized and gender-based discrimination that characterized New York City politics throughout the 20th century and beyond."—The Journal of African American History

| Julie A. Gallagher is an associate professor of history at Pennsylvania State University, Brandywine.