National Welfare Rights Organization
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The National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) was an American activist movement that fought for the rights of people, especially women and children, reliant upon government welfare. The group was active from May 16, 1966 to 1975, and at its peak in 1969, NWRO membership was estimated at 22,000 families nationwide, and thousands more joined in NWRO protests (mostly African American women)[1].
NWRO was funded by George Wiley, a nationally recognized chemist and only the second African American on the faculty of Syracuse University.
NWRO President Johnnie Tillmon's essay, "Welfare Is a Woman's Issue," which was published in Ms. magazine and elsewhere, emphasized women's right to adequate income, regardless of whether they work in a factory or at home raising children.
Their activities landed them on the master list of Nixon political opponents.
[edit] References
- Toney, Mark. Revisiting the National Welfare Rights Organization via ColorLines
- Nick Kotz & Mary Lynn Kotz, A Passion for Equality: George Wiley and the Movement (New York: W.W. Norton, 1977), pp. 212-306. ISBN 0-393-07517-6
- Tsuchiya, Kazuyo, "National Welfare Rights Organization, 1966-1975" BlackPast.org, 2007
