Comments on: Three Items

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:18:56 +0000

There is a full page ad in last Fridays Philadelphia Gay News about a public memorial service for Barbara Gittings. The ad has two photos of Barbara and eight photos of men who will be speaking at the memorial. There are no photos of any lesbian other than Barbara, not even Kay, her lover. At the bottom of the page a lesbian, Debra D’Allesandro, is listed as co-emcee with Mark Segal. I don’t know how such a clueless event could have been put together.

By: toscana

toscana — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 04:53:46 +0000

E grande io ha trovato il vostro luogo! Le info importanti ottenute! )) http://www.marshawj.org/toscana

By: Chris (in Massachusetts)

Chris (in Massachusetts) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:19:26 +0000

bean, I’m recalling an interview with the local NPR station here in Boston.

Indeed, she was an activist, and, that day, when all the elements came together, that was the day she decided to keep her seat.

By: Kendall

Kendall — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 04:13:00 +0000

My favorite work on Rosa Parks is Rita Dove’s book of poetry called ON THE BUS WITH ROSA PARKS. The bus sit-in was carefully planned political action; Parks was carefully chosen, trained for the action which was strategically timed, and executed her mission to perfection. It was a dangerous action, but she didn’t act alone or on impulse. This short poem is powerful:

Rosa
How she sat there,
the time right inside a place
so wrong it was ready.

That trim name with
its dream of a bench
to rest on. Her sensible coat.

Doing nothing was the doing:
the clean flame of her gaze
carved by a camera flash.

How she stood up
when they bent down to retrieve
her purse. That courtesy.

By: Doctor E

Doctor E — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:52:18 +0000

Andrew B: I suspoect that the title “Mothers and Daughters” is a deliberate reference to the Dave Sim graphic novel of that title. The panel description states that the focus of the panel will be on family life, not just on mother/daughter relationships.

Besides, I’ve never attended on of these panels that came close to sticking to the stated agenda.

By: Andrew B

Andrew B — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:29:04 +0000

Sorry to post three times in a row. I know that the links in my original comment are screwed up. I tried to post a correction but I’m getting a message saying that that comment is “awaiting moderation”, I assume because the external links tripped the spam filter. Just do a google search on “Philip Randolph porters”, and you’ll find what I found. I’m posting this in hopes that there won’t be a bunch of people saying, “Andrew B, you screwed up your links”. I know. Sorry about that.

By: bean

bean — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:27:56 +0000

my understanding is that rosa parks was not “a tired old lady who’s feet hurt” but a young organizer who, as part of a movement, had decided, in advance, not to relinquish her seat. i’ll look for a citation.

i am also curious what duncan was refering to.

however, i think it is sufficient to say that barbara gittings was a pioneer, and not feel the need to compare her to someone else who was part of some other movement. seems like the media always do that, and i find it kind of offensive, as well as lacking imagination.

By: Andrew B

Andrew B — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:22:47 +0000

Ok, I screwed up my first attempt to post html in the comments. Let me try again. Here (I hope) is the A. Philip Randolph Museum. And here's the Widipedia article.

By: Andrew B

Andrew B — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:16:09 +0000

Maggie Jochild, I thnk you're referring to A. Philip Randolph. See also the Wikipedia article. I don't know that much about the early civil rights movement, but I believe there were several grass roots organizations involved, including some that were woman-led. So you're right to say that King was not as crucial to the early movement as he's sometimes made out to be, but giving all the credit to Randolph (or whoever you were referring to) slights other leaders and omits the organizational work of women. I wish I could be more specific about this. Duncan, I too would be interested in hearing more about what you had in mind. Changing the subject, it bothers me a little that Alison is talking at a panel titled "Mothers and Daughters" this Friday. Her book is about a father and daughter! Unless there's some subtlety that I'm missing, it appears to me that the organizers of the panel are working with very simplistic stereotypes about the influence of the same-sex parent on the child. I'm sure Alison noticed this immediately and doesn't need me to point it out. I do hope she'll say something about it during the panel. Wish I could be there. I think Helen Bechdel is a crucial and on balance strongly sympathetic character in _Fun Home_. But the central figures are Bruce and Alison.

By: Chris (in Massachusetts)

Chris (in Massachusetts) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:15:07 +0000

History turns on the slightest pivot.

Mrs. Parks once said that, on that day, she was tired, her feet hurt and the bus driver was rude.

Had any of those three things been different…

And what of the passenger that got on the bus, the trigger for her arrest.

What if he had missed the bus?

In any event, there would have been a trigger event. If not Rosa Parks, someone else. The bus boycott was inevitable and was essentially the beginning of the modern civil rights movement.