Gloria Richardson, Armed Self-Defense, and Black Liberation in Cambridge, Maryland.

Despite a growing body of scholarship on the importance of armed resistance during the Civil Rights Movement, women's participation in armed resistance plays little or no role in most histories of this controversial aspect of the struggle. But Black women's contributions—as theorists, leaders, and actors—are key for rethinking the importance of armed resistance to the movement. Black women responded to the brutal violence that served as a tool for the psychological and physical intimidation of those who challenged white supremacy. I argue that Black women's practice and philosophy of armed resistance was rooted in tradition that extended from freedom fighters like Harriet Tubman to women who were activists and leaders in the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. This article examines Gloria Richardson and the movement for economic equality in Cambridge, Maryland, analyzing why she and those she led rejected nonviolence as the sole tactic or strategy for achieving their goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]