History Professor’s Book in Humanities Texas Summer Reading List

Thu, 07/18/2019 - 02:39pm | By: David Tisdale

A University of Southern Mississippi (USM) History program faculty member’s recent book is included in Humanities Texas’ annual summer reading issue (May/June 2019).

Dr. Rebecca Tuuri’s latest book, Strategic Sisterhood: The National Council of Negro Women in the Black Freedom Struggle (University of North Carolina Press) is among the titles featured in the article “A Midsummer Night’s Read: Summer Reading 2019.”

Dr. Merline Pitre, a former Humanities Texas board member, professor of history and former dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Science at Texas Southern University, and panel discussant at The Harvest film preview in Houston, recommended Dr. Tuuri’s book for inclusion among those titles in the article.

The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) was the largest black women’s organization in the era of the civil rights movement. Famed civil rights activist Mary Bethune founded the NCNW in 1935 to unite black women’s organizations to harness their economic, political, and service power to fight for better employment and educational opportunities, as well as for social justice for black communities nationally.

“In recent studies of the post-war freedom struggle, the black women who got the most publicity were the outspoken, radical activists who took to the street during the civil rights and Black Power movements,” Dr. Pitre said. “Yet, women of the National Council of Negro Women, though committed to public moderation, supported and helped fund grassroots and radical activists. The story of the full civil rights and Black Power movements can only be told by including the activities of the women in this book.”

Dr. Tuuri said she’s honored to have Strategic Sisterhood endorsed by Dr. Pitre and Humanities Texas. “It’s a great opportunity to expand the audience for the book, and I hope through that it widens the spotlight on the important role the NCNW played in advancing the cause of civil rights in our country,” she said.

The USM History program is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences. To learn more about Dr. Tuuri’s research, areas of expertise, teaching and service to USM, visit https://www.usm.edu/faculty-directory/profile.php?id=1936967. To view the Humanities Texas article, visit: https://www.humanitiestexas.org/news/articles/midsummer-nights-read-summer-reading-2019.