A Mob of Mothers?: Revisiting the Legacy of the National Welfare Rights Organization

Author: Makar Mozgovoy

Field of Study: Arts and Humanities

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Will Glovinsky

Easel: 59

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: Formed in 1966, the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) built a coalition of women of color, poor whites, and social workers to fight for a guaranteed income. However, the impact of the NWRO has often been reduced to its role in preventing the passage of Richard Nixon’s Family Assistance Plan––a much more stifling plan for a negative income tax. Building on recent reevaluations by Premilla Nadasen and Wilson Sherwin, this project argues that the long-term impact of the NWRO is best understood by cross-referencing contemporary reactions from historians and journalists to advocacy campaigns of the time. Though the organization was critiqued for its militancy, this paper argues such stridency was necessary to harness attention towards progressive reform. While critics would blame the movement’s failure on these tactics, the organization was ahead of its time in modeling a form of intersectional politics that would be theorized by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989.