OUR SECRET SOCIETY

A fluent study of the role of wealthy individuals in the funding of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and beyond.

“Political intrigue, compromise and confrontation, beautiful gowns and luxury hotels, protests and violent uprisings”—all are part of the story of civil rights, writes Ford, a scholar of Black historical fashion and culture. At the center was Mollie Moon (1907-1990), a committed leftist who lived for a time in the Soviet Union as a “New Negro” activist. Disillusioned both by the “two competing agendas” of the Communist Party—one fomenting revolution, the other trying to secure diplomatic recognition by the U.S. government for the purposes of commerce—and by the racism prevalent in the U.S., Moon went to Germany just in time for the rise of Nazism. She then moved to New York, where she married and became a founder of what is called “Black internationalism.” Trained as a pharmacist, she later became a federal government employee and, in the aftermath of the Depression, found herself and her husband “becoming civic leaders who were deeply invested in electoral politics.” Moving easily among white power brokers, the Roosevelt administration’s “Black Cabinet,” and the African American community, Moon was well positioned to become an ambassador for civil rights to the powerful. She organized balls, fashion shows, dinners, and other fundraising events for the Urban League and other organizations. In the more militant 1960s, Moon and other Black civic leaders came under criticism as having “become so caught up in the trappings of the upper class that they were of no use to the people,” which helps explain why her contributions have since been overlooked—even if, as Ford writes, “the reality is that movements cost money.”

A welcome addition to the literature of civil rights, casting light on a little-known corner of the struggle.