Pushing Boundaries in Oral History Based Biographies

The author comments on three preceding articles, two by authorsof oral history–based biographies (Sandy Polishuk's biographyof Julia Ruuttila and Catherine Fosl's biography of Anne Braden)and a third by their editor, Deborah Gershenowitz. The authoracknowledges the constraints imposed on the authors of oralhistory–based biographies, both by the refusal of biographicalsubjects to discuss certain matters and by the necessary honingthat editors undertake. While granting the need for author-subjectand author-editor negotiations and revisions, the author (ofthis commentary) insists on the value of pushing boundariesin oral history–based biographies and finds encouragementin the process of dialog, negotiation, and compromise that improvedthe books under consideration.     

Down to Now: Memory,Narrative, and Women's Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta,Georgia

This paper is a case study of African-American women’s leadership. It documents women’s involvement in a voter registration drive in 1946 and traces the develop-ment of an ‘official history’ of that event that emerged in the ensuing decades. This narrative shifted emphasis from the organising leadership that both women and men exhibited to a form of leadership – success in electoral politics – that pertained almost exclusively to men. Concluding remarks address the relevance of memory and narrative for writing the history of women’s leadership.