Praise the Unpraised

I found Paul Hendrickson’s article “The Ladies Before Rosa: Let Us Now Praise Unfamous Women” to be very interesting because it gives appreciation to the unknown women who are behind social movements; a topic within itself that is usually unaddressed. Hendrickson says that the civil rights movement, specifically, was driven by women who have never been heard of, or praised. This was largely because of their gender and their “behind the scenes” work. In most of the poor, black communities, the men had to work to support their families. As a result, the men had little time to be involved in the movement and much less interact with white men and women. The black women, however, had more time to come together and plan. The women also had political cover because people did not expect poor, black, uneducated women to take action. But boy were they wrong.

Many black women saw the impact that their involvement could have on their children. They saw that the more change they helped to bring about, the better life their own child would hopefully have. This was a huge motivation factor for women. If it weren’t for the involvement of so many undercover women in the civil rights movement, I believe that it would have taken a lot longer for change to come about. Most of the women did not mind that they did not receive credit for their action. Many of them were in fear that if they had been exposed then their lives would be in danger. I think it is important for us to remember all the “unfamous” women who took action and helped fight for their cause. This is seen not only in the civil rights movement, but in most movements today. Much of the work and organizing is done behind the scenes by many “small” people who do not usually receive credit. Looking at this year’s Obama campaign, you can see how he tried to play off of this concept by stressing the importance of every single individual. Obama knew that making everyday people feel important and special would encourage them to support him and take action because they would feel as if they were truly helping change come about. He also tried to constantly give credit, praise, and encouragement to them to keep them motivated and energized. We can see how this tactic largely worked and made thousands of people feel as if they were apart of something large and great and that they were united in their efforts to bring him to presidency. Obama knew people have a thirst for meaning and recognition in their lives, so it was very smart of him to play on that aspect of human lives. It obviously brought him much success.

As said in class, I think it is important to remember that behind every name we know and hear, there are many more names of people working behind them. A movement is rarely ever brought upon by one person. When you know someone has worked hard towards something without ever hearing but appreciation, make the point of encouraging them and thanking them for their contribution.