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Mittie Maude Lena Gordon

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Mittie Maude Lena Gordon
Born
Mittie Maude Lena Nelson

August 2, 1889
Webster Parish, Louisiana, U.S.
DiedJune 16, 1961(1961-06-16) (aged 71)
OccupationActivist

Mittie Maude Lena Gordon (August 2, 1889 – 1961)[1] was an American black nationalist who established the Peace Movement of Ethiopia.[2] The organization advocated black emigration to West Africa in response to racial discrimination and white supremacy.[3]

Early life

Gordon was born Mittie Maude Lena Nelson in Webster Parish, Louisiana.[4] Dismayed at the poor educational and job prospects in Louisiana, Gordon's family moved to Hope, Arkansas, when she was a child, where she grew up with her nine siblings. Her father, being the son of former slaves and a minister in the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), discovering that the schools were no better for black students in Arkansas, decided to homeschool his children himself. Through her father, she learned about the Pan-Africanist ideas of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, who advocated that former slaves in America should resettle in Africa, and that American blacks shared a common struggle with people of color from all over the world, both ideas that Gordon continued to espouse through her life.[5][6][7]

In 1900, Gordon married Robert Holt, at 14 years old, a bricklayer who was thirty years older than her. The reason behind the arrangement of this marriage is unknown; however, there has been speculation that it was due to an economic need. Holt passed away in 1906, so in order to financially support her family, Gordon began to work as a dressmaker.[7]

Career

She relocated from the South to East St. Louis, Illinois, in the mid-1910s to seek better job opportunities. In 1917, she and her family were caught in the East St. Louis riots in which white mobs killed dozens of black people. Her son, ten year old John Sullivan, was beaten during the riots and died several months later of his injuries.[8][7] This traumatic event formed part one of the many racial violence cases that she witnessed during her life. Following her son's death, Gordon moved to Chicago, where she met her second husband, William Gordon, in 1920. It is unsure how the couple met, but they both attended meetings at the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) near their home, where Gordon expanded her knowledge around Marcus Garvey’s message about African self-reliance and nationhood.[7]

Gordon adopted an active role as a member of the UNIA, leading to being promoted through the ranks quickly. After a couple of years, she was assigned the ‘Lady President’ position of the local UNIA group in Chicago. This position consisted of supervising the women's division, with restricted authority, as this job consisted of reporting to the male president, who often would make amendments to the women's reports and have the final word when making decisions.[7]

Gordon's role in the organisation came to an end when she was a delegate to the 1929 UNIA convention in Jamaica, taking place two years after Garvey was deported, where she experienced male opposition towards her authority.[7] In Chicago, in December 1932, she founded the Peace Movement of Ethiopia, where Gordon adopted the role of leader of the organisation, by her active involvement in planning, and facilitating the meetings.[7] The movement advocated for the repatriation of African Americans to Liberia, because it would be cheaper to establish African Americans in West Africa than to provide them with welfare in America.[4] Her Peace Movement sent a petition with over 400,000 signatures to President Roosevelt in 1933. The petition was diverted to the State Department, from there it was diverted to the Division of Western European Affairs, where it stagnated.[4] In 1927, she opened a small restaurant on State Street in Chicago's predominantly black South Side with her husband, which sold a few delicatessen and take away products, later, in 1932 improving into a fully developed restaurant until economic pressures from the Depression forced it to close in 1934.[6][9][7] Gorgon created a group that used her restaurant as a base for political and ideological discussion, this group eventually formed into the Peace Movement of Ethiopia.

Due to her affiliation with Japanese politicians and Japanese members of the Pacific Movement of the Eastern World as well as the Black Dragon Society in the early 1940s, she was put under surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[10][11] In October 1942, she was arrested for sedition and seditious conspiracy after making statements praising Japan an enemy nation of the United States during World War II.[10][12] Among the statements made by Mittie Gordon were:

  • That on December 7th, 1941, one billion black people struck for freedom
  • That the Japanese were going to redeem the Negroes from the white men in this country
  • That the spoils of the United States would be equally divided among Hitler and the Japanese
  • That it is impossible for America and Britain to win this war
  • That great numbers of ours ships are being sunk by U-boats and they (meaning the U-boats) are glad to see these ships leave the shore with full cargoes
  • That the United States Government was claiming to have sunk more ships than they really did

Gordon was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison.[13] In addition to Gordon, the FBI arrested her husband and two other PME authorities, who were all charged with the crimes of conspiracy and sedition.[7][14] Gordon was married three times. She was married to her first husband, Robert Holt, at the age of 14. Holt died in 1906. She married William Gordon shortly after moving to Chicago; he died in 1948. Her third husband was Moses Gibson.[7]

Relationship with white supremacists

Gordon was keen to pass the Greater Liberia Bill to "advance black emigration to Liberia."[7] This bill proposed buying land in Africa from England and France and situating African Americans there who would be emigrating from the United States. These immigrants would also be given land grants and financial help to encourage them to move to Liberia. In order to achieve her goal, Gordon had to forge relationships with white supremacists in positions of power. Earnest Sevier Cox was one of these figures, and despite being on the opposite side of the political spectrum, he also supported Gordon's goal and the bill in general. Their motivations were vastly different: Cox wanted the deportation of African Americans from the US, as he saw them as inferior, whereas Gordon wanted improved social conditions for her fellow people. Cox's interest in the bill led to Gordon contacting him by letter and persuading him to help support her cause. In the end, Cox was unable to get the bill passed. Still, he did manage to get the Virginia General Assembly to pass a resolution that urged US Congress to give federal assistance to those African Americans who wanted to migrate.[7]

Upon realizing that Cox alone would not be able to help her achieve her goal, Gordon turned to another white supremacist who was in an even higher position of authority: US senator Theodore G. Bilbo who, similarly to Cox, wanted African Americans to be deported or for there to be racial segregation in America. Bilbo was a figure who had been a proponent of this idea of deportation before the Greater Liberia Bill's existence and was, therefore the perfect 'ally' for Gordon. Mittie Gordon even referred to Bilbo as 'Moses' who led her and her organisation, PME, through the senate. However, she only did this to encourage him to pass this Bill that she so desperately wanted. When it became apparent in the Senate that the Greater Liberia Bill was not popular and was criticised for its logistical problems, their relationship deteriorated quickly. Following the failure of the Greater Liberia Bill, Gordon went on a tirade in the media, lambasting Bilbo and white America in general. She criticised the nation for its racial injustices and highlighted that white people would one day pay for their forefather's sins in the form of an African American President.[7]

Death

Gordon died of heart failure on June 16, 1961, at 71 years old.[15][7] However, her death certificate stated that she was ten years younger than her actual age when she died, due to her husband, Moses Gibson, who was unable to provide a few key details about her life. Another reason being was that in the city of her birth, she was registered as unknown.[7]

Gordon's nephew (son of her older brother Clarence Allen Nelson) was the musician John Lewis Nelson. Her grandnephew, John Lewis Nelson's son, was the musician Prince.[16][17]

References

  1. ^ Blain, Keisha (2016). ""Confraternity Among All Dark Races": Mittie Maude Lena Gordon and the Practice of Black (Inter)nationalism in Chicago, 1932 – 1942". Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International. 2 (5): 151–18. doi:10.1353/pal.2016.0018. S2CID 164679231. Retrieved March 15, 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  2. ^ Blain, Keisha N. (2021), Rietzler, Katharina; Owens, Patricia (eds.), ""The Dark Skin[ned] People of the Eastern World": Mittie Maude Lena Gordon's Vision of Afro-Asian Solidarity", Women's International Thought: A New History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 179–197, doi:10.1017/9781108859684.012, ISBN 978-1-108-49469-4, S2CID 234214571, retrieved 2021-03-06
  3. ^ Parr, Jessica; Blain, Keisha (August 18, 2015). "Guest Post: Racial Violence and Black Nationalist Politics". earlyamericanists. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Jallone, Aullusine; Falola, Toyin (2008). The United States and West Africa: Interactions and Relations. University Rocherster Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-58046-277-8.
  5. ^ Gartrell, John (2017-12-01). "'Hidden Figures' in the Robert A. Hill Collection: Mittie Maude Lena Gordon". The Devil's Tale: Dispatches From the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Duke University. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  6. ^ a b Owens, P.; Rietzler, K. (2021). Women's International Thought: A New History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-49469-4. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Blain, K.N. (2018). Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom. Politics and Culture in Modern America. University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-8122-9477-4. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  8. ^ Blain, Keisha N. (2020-06-10). "Echoes of the 1917 East St. Louis "Race Riot" in Today's Uprisings". The Intercept. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  9. ^ Blain, K.; Gill, T.; West, M.; Anae, N.; Byrd, B.R.; Cohen, S.B.; Donlon, A.; Florvil, T.N.; Gallon, K.; Gore, D. (2019). To Turn the Whole World Over: Black Women and Internationalism. Black Internationalism. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-05116-6. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  10. ^ a b Blain, Keisha, "Confraternity Among All Dark Races: Mittie Maude Lena Gordon and the Practice of Black (Inter)nationalism in Chicago". Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International, Vol. 3, no. 3, forthcoming.
  11. ^ Reginald Kearney, African American Views of the Japanese: Solidarity or Sedition?, SUNY Press, 1998, p. 77.
  12. ^ Plummer, Brenda Gayle, Rising Wind: Black Americans and U.S. Foreign Affairs, 1935-1960, Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1996, p. 108.
    - Adam Ewing, The Age of Garvey: How a Jamaican Activist Created a Mass Movement and Changed Global Black Politics, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2014, p. 240.
  13. ^ "United States v. Gordon, 138 F.2d 174 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  14. ^ "Mittie Maude Lena Gordon, founder of the Peace Movement of Ethiopia". El Paso Times. 1943-02-16. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  15. ^ Gartrell, John (December 1, 2017). "'Hidden Figures' in the Robert A. Hill Collection: Mittie Maude Lena Gordon". Duke University.
  16. ^ "Mittie Maud Lena Gordon". Geni. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  17. ^ "John Lewis Nelson". Geni. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
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