With Her Fist Raised

Dorothy Pitman Hughes and the Transformative Power of Black Community Activism

Look inside
Hardcover
$25.95 US
6.17"W x 9.26"H x 0.81"D  
On sale Jan 19, 2021 | 176 Pages | 9780807008898
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
The first biography of Dorothy Pitman Hughes, a trailblazing Black feminist activist whose work made children, race, and welfare rights central to the women’s movement.

Dorothy Pitman Hughes was a transformative community organizer in New York City in the 1970s who shared the stage with Gloria Steinem for 5 years, captivating audiences around the country. After leaving rural Georgia in the 1950s, she moved to New York, determined to fight for civil rights and equality. Historian Laura L. Lovett traces Hughes’s journey as she became a powerhouse activist, responding to the needs of her community and building a platform for its empowerment. She created lasting change by revitalizing her West Side neighborhood, which was subjected to racial discrimination, with nonexistent childcare and substandard housing, where poverty, drug use, a lack of job training, and the effects of the Vietnam War were evident. Hughes created a high-quality childcare center that also offered job training, adult education classes, a Youth Action corps, housing assistance, and food resources.

Hughes’s realization that her neighborhood could be revitalized by actively engaging and including the community was prescient and is startlingly relevant. As her stature grew to a national level, Hughes spent several years traversing the country with Steinem and educating people about feminism, childcare, and race. She moved to Harlem in the 1970s to counter gentrification and bought the franchise to the Miss Greater New York City pageant to demonstrate that Black was beautiful. She also opened an office supply store and became a powerful voice for Black women entrepreneurs and Black-owned businesses. Throughout every phase of her life, Hughes understood the transformative power of activism for Black communities.

With expert research, which includes Hughes’s own accounts of her life, With Her Fist Raised is the necessary biography of a pivotal figure in women’s history and Black feminism whose story will finally be told.
Laura L. Lovett is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, and specializes in 20th century US women’s history and the history of children’s youth. Lovett is the author of Conceiving the Future: Pronatalism, Reproduction, and the Family in the United States, 1890-1930 and the co-editor of several books including “It’s Our Movement Now”: Black Women’s Politics and the 1977 National Women’s Conference. She is the recipient of numerous honors and was selected as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians in 2017.
Preface
Introduction


CHAPTER 1
The Ridleys: Growing Up in Georgia

CHAPTER 2
Finding Her Voice: Moving “Up South”

CHAPTER 3
Childcare, Community Care: Activism in New York City

CHAPTER 4
“Sisters Under the Skin”: Taking the Stage in the Women’s Movement

CHAPTER 5
“Racism with Roses”: Miss New York City and the Transition to Harlem

CHAPTER 6
Whose Empowerment?: Black Women’s Business and the Politics of Gentrification

EPILOGUE
Home Again

Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Image Credits
Index
“Readers will cherish this accessible portrait of a lesser-known civil rights figure.”
Publishers Weekly

“A vigorous, vivifying portrait. This biography of a firebrand best known for her activism during the second wave of US feminism captures the fervor of the woman and her time.”
Shelf Awareness

“Lovett’s book is a fascinating read for anyone wanting to know more about Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Black feminist organizing and interracial feminist collaboration in the US women’s movement—a history we should know.”
Ms. Magazine

“I entered Dorothy’s life when she became my speaking partner, and she was already a pioneer of community organizing in New York City. With Her Fist Raised begins with her family in rural Georgia, and with her vision and bravery in defying a life limited by racism or sexism. I can’t imagine any book that could tell you more about this country or about the human spirit.”
—Gloria Steinem

With Her Fist Raised is a testament to the impact, diversity, and reach of African American women’s leadership and activism. Guided by Lovett’s careful and thorough research, this story of Dorothy Pitman Hughes’s life enhances the way we understand intersectional activism and social movements in the United States through her fight for civil rights, community empowerment, and childcare. She emerges from the shadow of Steinem as a force in her own right.”
—Francoise Hamlin, author of Crossroads at Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the Mississippi Delta after World War II

About

The first biography of Dorothy Pitman Hughes, a trailblazing Black feminist activist whose work made children, race, and welfare rights central to the women’s movement.

Dorothy Pitman Hughes was a transformative community organizer in New York City in the 1970s who shared the stage with Gloria Steinem for 5 years, captivating audiences around the country. After leaving rural Georgia in the 1950s, she moved to New York, determined to fight for civil rights and equality. Historian Laura L. Lovett traces Hughes’s journey as she became a powerhouse activist, responding to the needs of her community and building a platform for its empowerment. She created lasting change by revitalizing her West Side neighborhood, which was subjected to racial discrimination, with nonexistent childcare and substandard housing, where poverty, drug use, a lack of job training, and the effects of the Vietnam War were evident. Hughes created a high-quality childcare center that also offered job training, adult education classes, a Youth Action corps, housing assistance, and food resources.

Hughes’s realization that her neighborhood could be revitalized by actively engaging and including the community was prescient and is startlingly relevant. As her stature grew to a national level, Hughes spent several years traversing the country with Steinem and educating people about feminism, childcare, and race. She moved to Harlem in the 1970s to counter gentrification and bought the franchise to the Miss Greater New York City pageant to demonstrate that Black was beautiful. She also opened an office supply store and became a powerful voice for Black women entrepreneurs and Black-owned businesses. Throughout every phase of her life, Hughes understood the transformative power of activism for Black communities.

With expert research, which includes Hughes’s own accounts of her life, With Her Fist Raised is the necessary biography of a pivotal figure in women’s history and Black feminism whose story will finally be told.

Author

Laura L. Lovett is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, and specializes in 20th century US women’s history and the history of children’s youth. Lovett is the author of Conceiving the Future: Pronatalism, Reproduction, and the Family in the United States, 1890-1930 and the co-editor of several books including “It’s Our Movement Now”: Black Women’s Politics and the 1977 National Women’s Conference. She is the recipient of numerous honors and was selected as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians in 2017.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction


CHAPTER 1
The Ridleys: Growing Up in Georgia

CHAPTER 2
Finding Her Voice: Moving “Up South”

CHAPTER 3
Childcare, Community Care: Activism in New York City

CHAPTER 4
“Sisters Under the Skin”: Taking the Stage in the Women’s Movement

CHAPTER 5
“Racism with Roses”: Miss New York City and the Transition to Harlem

CHAPTER 6
Whose Empowerment?: Black Women’s Business and the Politics of Gentrification

EPILOGUE
Home Again

Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Image Credits
Index

Praise

“Readers will cherish this accessible portrait of a lesser-known civil rights figure.”
Publishers Weekly

“A vigorous, vivifying portrait. This biography of a firebrand best known for her activism during the second wave of US feminism captures the fervor of the woman and her time.”
Shelf Awareness

“Lovett’s book is a fascinating read for anyone wanting to know more about Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Black feminist organizing and interracial feminist collaboration in the US women’s movement—a history we should know.”
Ms. Magazine

“I entered Dorothy’s life when she became my speaking partner, and she was already a pioneer of community organizing in New York City. With Her Fist Raised begins with her family in rural Georgia, and with her vision and bravery in defying a life limited by racism or sexism. I can’t imagine any book that could tell you more about this country or about the human spirit.”
—Gloria Steinem

With Her Fist Raised is a testament to the impact, diversity, and reach of African American women’s leadership and activism. Guided by Lovett’s careful and thorough research, this story of Dorothy Pitman Hughes’s life enhances the way we understand intersectional activism and social movements in the United States through her fight for civil rights, community empowerment, and childcare. She emerges from the shadow of Steinem as a force in her own right.”
—Francoise Hamlin, author of Crossroads at Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the Mississippi Delta after World War II

Celebrate 100 years of James Baldwin

We’re celebrating the centennial of James Baldwin’s birth by sharing a collection of his work. Explore titles and learn more about the literary legend and civil rights champion.   James Baldwin (1924–1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his

Read more

The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

The New York Times recently published their list “100 Best Books of the 21st Century.” We are pleased to announce that there are 49 titles published from Penguin Random House and its distribution clients included in this list. Browse our collection of Penguin Random House titles here. Browse the full list from The New York

Read more

2024 Middle and High School Collections

The Penguin Random House Education Middle School and High School Digital Collections feature outstanding fiction and nonfiction from the children’s, adult, DK, and Grupo Editorial divisions, as well as publishers distributed by Penguin Random House. Peruse online or download these valuable resources to discover great books in specific topic areas such as: English Language Arts,

Read more

PRH Education High School Collections

All reading communities should contain protected time for the sake of reading. Independent reading practices emphasize the process of making meaning through reading, not an end product. The school culture (teachers, administration, etc.) should affirm this daily practice time as inherently important instructional time for all readers. (NCTE, 2019)   The Penguin Random House High

Read more

PRH Education Translanguaging Collections

Translanguaging is a communicative practice of bilinguals and multilinguals, that is, it is a practice whereby bilinguals and multilinguals use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning (García, 2009; García, Ibarra Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017)   It is through that lens that we have partnered with teacher educators and bilingual education experts, Drs.

Read more

PRH Education Classroom Libraries

“Books are a students’ passport to entering and actively participating in a global society with the empathy, compassion, and knowledge it takes to become the problem solvers the world needs.” –Laura Robb   Research shows that reading and literacy directly impacts students’ academic success and personal growth. To help promote the importance of daily independent

Read more

Books for Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month, which recognizes the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields. Beginning as “Women’s History Week,” a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California in 1978, the movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women’s History Week celebrations the following year.

Read more

Books for Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month, which recognizes the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields. Beginning as “Women’s History Week,” a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California in 1978, the movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women’s History Week celebrations the following year.

Read more