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African American Women Lost in the Gap: The Case of Drusilla Dunjee Houston |
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Abstract:
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Drusilla Dunjee Houston was a multi-faceted figure, who, at one time or another during her wide-ranging career was an educator, self-trained historian, elegist, black clubwoman and journalist. Her writings span three different literary periods: the race writers, the Black Women’s Era (1890-1900), and the Harlem Renaissance. Despite voluminous writings for more than four decades --both journalistic and historical—Houston remains one of the most overlooked African American women writers in African American women’s history and is also one of the most important African American women in the history of Oklahoma.
Much of the welfare and uplift work of early Oklahoma was carried out by organized black clubwomen. Houston was an active clubwoman whose activities were critical to the actual conceptualization and implementation of social welfare programs, the nurturance of oppositional consciousness and the support of essential institutions. Through her angle of vision, she skillfully utilized her columns in her brother’s paper the Black Dispatch, to argue for the creation of racially autonomous institutional structures in the Baptist church, public schools, clubs, mutual benefit societies and businesses. An ardent proponent of economic nationalism and herself a model to be emulated, she devoted numerous columns urging women and men to become financially frugal and to invest in land. No issue was too tough and she responded to nearly every major incident that imperiled blacks in Oklahoma, e.g., transportation racism in the Kellyville train disaster, and pay discrimination among black teachers. Immediately after the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, Houston wrote about defying Tulsa’s armed marshals as she brazenly walked the streets of the Greenwood District gathering information to report on the disaster. Other articles applauded Tulsa blacks for fighting back and she was one of the first to boldly call for reparations.
While the legacy of Houston’s contribution to Black Studies, black women’s history as well as black journalism history languishes, future publication of recently discovered Houston manuscripts and publication of a biography of her life will shed further light on her contributions. Continued obscurity of Houston’s contribution would be tantamount to being as Anna Julia Cooper said more than a century ago: “blinded by the loss of sight in one eye and…unable to detect the full shape of the black women’s American historical literary tradition.” This presentation will include a brief reading from an elegy on lynching written by Houston in about 1920-1921 but never before published or read in public. |
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Association:
Name: Association for the Study of African American Life and History
URL: http://www.asalh.org
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Citation:
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MLA Citation:
| Brooks-Bertram, Peggy. "African American Women Lost in the Gap: The Case of Drusilla Dunjee Houston" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sep 28, 2004 <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p116611_index.html> |
APA Citation:
| Brooks-Bertram, P. , 2004-09-28 "African American Women Lost in the Gap: The Case of Drusilla Dunjee Houston" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p116611_index.html |
Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Drusilla Dunjee Houston was a multi-faceted figure, who, at one time or another during her wide-ranging career was an educator, self-trained historian, elegist, black clubwoman and journalist. Her writings span three different literary periods: the race writers, the Black Women’s Era (1890-1900), and the Harlem Renaissance. Despite voluminous writings for more than four decades --both journalistic and historical—Houston remains one of the most overlooked African American women writers in African American women’s history and is also one of the most important African American women in the history of Oklahoma.
Much of the welfare and uplift work of early Oklahoma was carried out by organized black clubwomen. Houston was an active clubwoman whose activities were critical to the actual conceptualization and implementation of social welfare programs, the nurturance of oppositional consciousness and the support of essential institutions. Through her angle of vision, she skillfully utilized her columns in her brother’s paper the Black Dispatch, to argue for the creation of racially autonomous institutional structures in the Baptist church, public schools, clubs, mutual benefit societies and businesses. An ardent proponent of economic nationalism and herself a model to be emulated, she devoted numerous columns urging women and men to become financially frugal and to invest in land. No issue was too tough and she responded to nearly every major incident that imperiled blacks in Oklahoma, e.g., transportation racism in the Kellyville train disaster, and pay discrimination among black teachers. Immediately after the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, Houston wrote about defying Tulsa’s armed marshals as she brazenly walked the streets of the Greenwood District gathering information to report on the disaster. Other articles applauded Tulsa blacks for fighting back and she was one of the first to boldly call for reparations.
While the legacy of Houston’s contribution to Black Studies, black women’s history as well as black journalism history languishes, future publication of recently discovered Houston manuscripts and publication of a biography of her life will shed further light on her contributions. Continued obscurity of Houston’s contribution would be tantamount to being as Anna Julia Cooper said more than a century ago: “blinded by the loss of sight in one eye and…unable to detect the full shape of the black women’s American historical literary tradition.” This presentation will include a brief reading from an elegy on lynching written by Houston in about 1920-1921 but never before published or read in public. |
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