Black women have always boasted a strong presence in the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They have
served overwhelmingly as fundraisers and proselytizers tying the
organization to the Black community and creating a Black-led NAACP. (2)
But a number of Black women have also made their mark as national
officers serving as members of the Board of Directors, and as
vice-presidents early in the organization's history. Jane Matilda Bolin,
the nation's first African American woman judge, is among this small
cadre of Black women which includeds such notable educators and
clubwomen as Mary McLeod Bethune and Nannie Helen Burroughs. (3) Bolin
became a member of the NAACP national leadership in 1943, serving
consecutively as a member of the Board of Directors and then as
vice-president before resigning in 1950. An active member and officer of
the New York Branch of the NAACP and a recent judicial appointee,
Bolin's nomination for election to the Board of Directors came as no
surprise. Her resignation, however, broke with convention and was
dissected in the Black press. The question is therefore not so much how
Bolin rose to prominence in the NAACP, but more importantly, how and why
she plummeted to the depths of its disregard. She allows us a rare
glimpse into the tenure of Black women as national officers in the
NAACP. But, an examination of Bolin's positioning within the NAACP
leadership also affords us some insight into her philosophy of
leadership, its conformity to that of the National Office, and how she
became "persona non-grata" to the organizational leadership.
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