How The NACW Fought Sexism and Racism in Jim Crow Era

How The NACW Fought Sexism and Racism in Jim Crow Era The National Association of Colored Women was established in July of 1896  after Southern journalist, James Jacks referred to African American women as â€Å"prostitutes, thieves and liars.† African American writer and suffragette, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin believed that the best way to respond to racist and sexist attacks was through social-political activism. Arguing that developing positive images of African American womanhood was important to countering racist attacks, Ruffin said, Too long have we been silent under unjust and unholy charges; we cannot expect to have them removed until we disprove them through ourselves. With the help of other notable African American women, Ruffin initiated the merger of several African American women’s clubs including the National League of Colored Women and the National Federation of Afro-American Women to form the first African American national organization. The organizations name was changed in 1957 to the National Association of Colored Womens Clubs (NACWC). Notable Members Mary Church Terrell: first president of the NACWIda B. Wells-Barnett: publisher and journalistMary McLeod Bethune: educator, social leader and eighth president of NACWFrances Ellen Watkins Harper: feminist and poetMargaret Murray Washington: educator and served as the fifth president of the NACW Mission The NACW’s national motto, â€Å"Lifting as We Climb,† embodied the goals and initiatives established by the national organization and carried out by its local and regional chapters. On the organizations website, the NACW outlines nine objectives which included developing the economic, moral, religious and social welfare of women and children as well as enforcing the civil and political rights for all American citizens. Uplifting the Race and Providing Social Services One of the NACWs main focuses was developing resources that would help impoverished and disenfranchised African Americans. In 1902, the organizations first president, Mary Church Terrell, argued: Self-preservation demands that [black women] go among the lowly, illiterate, and even vicious, to whom they are bound to ties of race and sex...to reclaim them.   In Terrells first address as president of the NACW, she said, The work which we hope to accomplish can be done better, we believe, by the mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters of our race than by the fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. Terrell charged members with the task of developing employment training and fair wages for women while establishing kindergarten programs for young children and recreational programs for older children. Suffrage Through various national, regional and local initiatives, the NACW fought for the voting rights of all Americans. Women of the NACW supported womens right to vote through their work on the local and national level. When the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, the NACW supported the establishment of citizenship schools. Georgia Nugent, chair of the NACW Executive Committee, told members, the ballot without intelligence in back of it is a menace instead of a blessing and I like to believe that women are accepting their recently granted citizenship with a sense of reverent responsibility. Standing Up To Racial Injustice The NACW vehemently opposed segregation and supported anti-lynching legislation. Using its publication, National Notes, the organization was able to discuss its opposition to racism and discrimination in society with a wider audience. Regional and local chapters of NACW launched various fundraising efforts after the Red Summer of 1919. All chapters  participated in nonviolent protests and boycotts of segregated public facilities. Todays Initiatives Now referred to as the National Association of Colored Womens Clubs (NACWC), the organization boasts regional and local chapters in 36 states. Members of these chapters sponsor various programs including college scholarships, teenage pregnancy,  and AIDS prevention. In 2010, Ebony magazine named the NACWC as one of the top ten non-profit organizations in the United States.

Pronouncing Dour and Other OU Words

Pronouncing Dour and Other OU Words Pronouncing Dour and Other OU Words Pronouncing Dour and Other OU Words By Maeve Maddox A reader asks: How does one pronounce properly the word â€Å"dour†?   Should it rhyme with â€Å"sour† or â€Å"door† or be pronounced something like the whiskey â€Å"Dewar’s† or perhaps â€Å"doer†? Dour is an adjective that came into English from a Scottish word that in turn probably came from the word that gives us durable: durus: â€Å"hard.† A dour person presents a stern, harsh, forbidding exterior. Here are some examples of dour found on the Web and in Wuthering Heights: Never the dour child in his eyes, Eleanor [Roosevelt] was instead his â€Å"own darling little Nell.† Not only did Kierkegaard inherit his fathers melancholy, his sense of guilt and anxiety, and his pietistic emphasis on the dour aspects of Christian faith, but he also inherited his talents for philosophical argument and creative imagination. The social worker had remained silent throughout the conference, with a  dour  expression on  his  face. [Heathcliff] managed to continue work till nine o’clock, and then marched dumb and dour to his chamber. In my early (US) education, I learned to pronounce the vowel sound of dour like the oo in goose: DOOr. This is the only pronunciation given in the OED. The online pronouncing dictionary Howjsay gives a second pronunciation in which the vowel sound is pronounced like the vowel sound in out: DOWr. Merriam-Webster Unabridged (online version) shows the phonetic symbols for the OW pronunciation first, but the audio feature gives the OO pronunciation. According to Charles Elster, (The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations), a survey of American sources indicates that the OO pronunciation was the only one in US speech until the 1940s. He speculates that the OW pronunciation developed by false analogy with words like our, hour, flour, sour, scour, and devour. I hesitate to label DOWr â€Å"US pronunciation.† Many US speakers do make dour rhyme with sour, but many others pronounce dour as the English and Scots do. Regional US pronunciation varies widely (and sometimes wildly) when it comes to words spelled with ou. For example, some speakers pronounce tour to rhyme with tore and tourist to rhyme with forest. When I was growing up, the most common American pronunciation of route was ROOT. We even had a popular song about getting our kicks on Route 66 that was sung with the ROOT pronunciation. Nowadays, many (again, not all) American speakers make route rhyme with shout, losing the distinction between the noun route (â€Å"a line of travel†) and the verb rout (â€Å"to put to flight†). Here are a few more ou words grouped according to pronunciation of the vowel sound. Some readers are sure to disagree with the groupings, but here goes anyway. My authorities are the OED, M-W, and Howjsay: OW as in how: foul loud house flour hour sour OO as in you>: cougar louvre tour tourist OR as in for: court mourn O as in toe: moulder moult soul UR as in URN: journal journalist journey schwa (an indeterminate uh sound) moustache Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Farther vs. FurtherRules for Capitalization in TitlesMay Have vs. Might Have