Happy Birthday to civil rights activist Johnnie Tillmon (b. April 10, 1926, in Scott, AR), who organized and fought for economic support for women experiencing poverty. She believed that the potential for autonomy and economic self-determination should be a fundamental right for all Americans. In a 1972 article for Ms. Magazine, Tillmon wrote: “For a lot of middle-class women in this country, Women’s Liberation is a matter of concern. For women on welfare, it’s a matter of survival. Survival. That’s why we had to go on welfare. And that’s why we can’t get off welfare now. Not us women. Not until we do something about liberating poor women in this country.” She helped create and build the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) to address this. Describing the NWRO’s work, she explained: “We put together our own welfare plan, called Guaranteed Adequate Income (GAI), which would eliminate sexism from welfare. There would be no ‘categories’—men, women, children, single, married, kids, no kids—just poor people who need aid.”
Recommended reading to learn more:
Citations: Premilla Nadasen, “‘We Do Whatever Becomes Necessary’: Johnnie Tillmon, Welfare Rights, and Black Power,” in Want to Start a Revolution?: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle, eds. Dayo F. Gore, Jeanne Theoharis, and Komozi Woodard (New York: New York University Press, 2009), 317, Kindle edition; Johnnie Tillmon, “Welfare Is a Women’s Issue,” Ms. Magazine, Spring 1972, https://msmagazine.com/2021/03/25/welfare-is-a-womens-issue-ms-magazine-spring-1972/; Washington Area Spark, “Children’s March for Survival 1972 #2,” photographic print (Washington, D.C., 1972), Creative Commons, https://flic.kr/p/9nm19X.
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