Mobilizing New York: AIDS, Antipoverty, and Feminist Activism

Description

Examining three interconnected case studies, Tamar Carroll powerfully demonstrates the ability of grassroots community activism to bridge racial and cultural differences and effect social change. Drawing on a rich array of oral histories, archival records, newspapers, films, and photographs from post–World War II New York City, Carroll shows how poor people transformed the antipoverty organization Mobilization for Youth and shaped the subsequent War on Poverty. Highlighting the little-known National Congress of Neighborhood Women, she reveals the significant participation of working-class white ethnic women and women of color in New York City's feminist activism. Finally, Carroll traces the partnership between the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Women's Health Action Mobilization (WHAM!), showing how gay men and feminists collaborated to create a supportive community for those affected by the AIDS epidemic, to improve health care, and to oppose homophobia and misogyny during the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s. Carroll contends that social policies that encourage the political mobilization of marginalized groups and foster coalitions across identity differences are the most effective means of solving social problems and realizing democracy. Preface : making history -- Introduction -- A cauldron within which new ideas can be tested out : MFY and the early war on poverty -- A grand cooker of a scene : MFY's outgrowths -- Everything then made sense : bridging the neighborhood and women's movements -- It was talking about my life : developing working-class feminism -- Turn anger, fear, grief into action : ACT UP New York -- It saved my life : creating queer politics -- Epilogue : ACT UP will be here again