With Her Fist Raised: Dorothy Pitman Hughes and the Transformative Power of Black Community Activism

University of Pittsburgh history professor Lovett (Conceiving the Future) revisits the social justice activism of Ms. magazine cofounder Dorothy Pitman Hughes in this brisk biography. Born in 1938 and raised in rural Georgia, Hughes moved to New York City as a nightclub singer in 1957. She also worked part-time for the civil rights organization CORE and, in 1967, founded the West 80th Street Day Care Center, where she created “economically and racially integrated classes” and organized a campaign to stop local businesses from raising food prices just before welfare checks were issued. Gloria Steinem profiled the center for New York magazine in 1969, and her subsequent speaking tours with Hughes illustrated the possibility for a racially integrated feminist movement, Lovett writes, though Steinem became the representative face of feminism, which in turn became synonymous with white women’s needs. Meanwhile, Hughes remained committed to Black empowerment, promoting Black-owned businesses and community activism in Harlem; her hometown of Charles Junction, Ga.; and in Jacksonville, Fla., where she retired. Lovett skimps somewhat on the personal details of Hughes’s life, but makes a persuasive case for her importance to the fights for gender and racial equality and child welfare. Readers will cherish this accessible portrait of a lesser-known civil rights figure. (Jan.)