Martha Prescod Norman Noonan

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Martha Prescod Norman Noonan was a civil rights activist who is known for her work within the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and co-editing a 2012 book Hands on theFreedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC.

Contents

Early life and education

Noonan was born on February 25, 1945 [1] in Providence, Rhode Island where she was raised as one of the only black students at the predominantly white institutions she attended. [2] Her parents were active in the Progressive Party, [3] : 45  and her father was once the state chairman of the party. [4] She graduated from the University of Michigan in December 1964, [1] and has a master's degree from Wayne State University where she studied history. [5] Noonan completed coursework for a PhD at the University of Michigan. [5]

Civil rights activism

Soon after arriving at Michigan, Noonan joined VOICE, a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, [2] and she raised funds for Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) by selling copies of a documentary record made about the Albany Movement. [1] When she heard presentations by Curtis Hayes and Tom Hayden [3] : 45  she was "almost giddy with the idea that someone my age could take action that might change the overall racial situation in the United States”. [2] From 1962 to 1963, Martha organized a Friends of SNCC group in Ann Arbor, [3] : 45  which was providing support for the student activists in the south. [1] In 1963 at the age of 18, Noonan first went to the American south. [6] She ended up in Albany, Georgia where she noted she "was scared the whole time I was there”. [4] By 1965 Noonan deliberately was eating in newly integrated places, such as a Holiday Inn in Selma, Alabama, where she remained calm while keeping her right to eat in such institutions. [7] Noonan crossed paths with other civil rights activists including Prathia Hall [8] and Stokely Carmichael. [9]

Later life

Noonan married Silas Norman in 1967 and they had one son. [2] She taught classes on African American history at the University of Michigan, the University of Toledo, and Wayne State University. [4] In 2012, Noonan co-edited the book Hands on theFreedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC which was reviewed by The Women's Review of Books, [10] The Journal of African American History , [11] and the Journal of American Ethnic History. [12]

Selected publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Martha Prescod (Norman)". SNCC Digital Gateway. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Prescod Norman Noonan, Martha (2010). Captured by the Movement," Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC. pp. 483–503.
  3. 1 2 3 Rebellion in Black and white : southern student activism in the 1960s. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2013. ISBN   978-1-4214-0849-1.
  4. 1 2 3 "Martha Prescod Norman Noonan oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Cockeysville, Maryland, 2013 March 18". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  5. 1 2 "Fighting for Our Rights: 2019 MLK Day Symposium Features Civil Rights Veterans | U-M LSA History". lsa.umich.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  6. ↑ Spratling, Cassandra (2011-02-27). "A decision to make a difference". Detroit Free Press. p. 24. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  7. ↑ Wallach, Jennifer Jensen (2018-11-13). Every Nation Has Its Dish: Black Bodies and Black Food in Twentieth-Century America. UNC Press Books. p. 160. ISBN   978-1-4696-4522-3.
  8. ↑ Pace, Courtney (2019-06-15). Freedom Faith: The Womanist Vision of Prathia Hall. University of Georgia Press. ISBN   978-0-8203-5506-1.
  9. ↑ Joseph, Peniel E. (2014-03-04). Stokely: A Life. Basic Books. ISBN   978-0-465-01363-0.
  10. ↑ Aptheker, Bettina (2011). "Freedom's Architects". The Women's Review of Books; Wellesley. 28 (4): 3.
  11. ↑ Collins, Ed (2012). "Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC". The Journal of African American History. 97 (3): 354. doi:10.5323/jafriamerhist.97.3.0354.
  12. ↑ Span, Christopher M. (2013). "Review of Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC, Faith S. Holsaert, Martha Prescod Norman Noonan, Judy Richardson, Betty Garman Robinson, Jean Smith Young, and Dorothy M. Zellner" . Journal of American Ethnic History. 32 (4): 88–89. doi:10.5406/jamerethnhist.32.4.0088. ISSN   0278-5927. JSTOR   10.5406/jamerethnhist.32.4.0088.
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