Gloria Richardson, civil rights pioneer, dies at 99
Source: AP
By BRIAN WITTE
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Gloria Richardson, an influential yet largely unsung civil rights pioneer whose determination not to back down while protesting racial inequality was captured in a photograph as she pushed away the bayonet of a National Guardsman, has died. She was 99.
Tya Young, her granddaughter, said Richardson died in her sleep Thursday in New York City and had not been ill. Young said while her grandmother was at the forefront of the civil rights movement, she didnt seek praise or recognition.
She did it because it needed to be done, and she was born a leader, Young said.
Richardson was the first woman to lead a prolonged grassroots civil rights movement outside the Deep South. In 1962, she helped organized and led the Cambridge Movement on Marylands Eastern Shore with sit-ins to desegregate restaurants, bowling alleys and movie theaters in protests that marked an early part of the Black Power movement.
FILE - In this July 21, 1963, file photo, Gloria Richardson, head of the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee, pushes a National Guardsman's bayonet aside as she moves among a crowd of African Americans to convince them to disperse in Cambridge, Md. Richardson, an influential yet largely unsung civil rights pioneer whose determination not to back down while protesting racial inequality was captured in a photograph as she pushed away the bayonet of a National Guardsman, died Thursday, July 15, 2021, in New York, according to Joe Orange, her son in law. She was 99. (AP Photo/File)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-3e54a1140b0392f003b387e3a663575a
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)... You have showed us the way.
Lars39
(26,109 posts)ancianita
(36,023 posts)BumRushDaShow
(128,831 posts)And with all that, she lived that long. At least she got to see a huge move forward in this country finally, thanks to the dedication and sacrifices by her and so many others.
Here she was on the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington in an interview with Amy Goodman -
R.I.P. and thank you for being the foundation for the next generation.
iluvtennis
(19,844 posts)Lithos
(26,403 posts)Such a strong woman.
riversedge
(70,186 posts)could not help but notice.