New Book Explores Activism of Black Club Women in Arizona

Tucson, AZ, July 29, 2007 --(PR.com)-- A new book, Traditions of Uplift: A History of the Arizona Association of Colored Women’s Clubs offers a profile of Arizona’s African American women joined together in social work and pushes for equality. With a history beginning in 1915, black club women consistently promoted concepts of self-worth affecting generations of blacks in a state where black presence consistently ranged at three percent or less. In the midst of segregation, and without demographic or economic dominance, the Arizona members of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs bought property, negotiated for parks, set up a day care facility and provided critically important services for members of their communities.

Full of narratives, quotes, statistics and photographs, the book relies on documents and other articles from private collections not available to the public. The book also addresses the rise of Arizona club membership since the year 2004, with images and stories of contemporary club women, some of whom generously provided profiles, genealogies and recipes that explain their individual “Traditions of Uplift.” This 126 page edition gives a face to the women working in a distinctly African American womanist tradition of “lifting as we climb” – an imagery sorely needed for a group often discounted by the dominant society.

“Traditions of Uplift” is edited by Tani D. Sanchez, Ph.D, faculty member in Africana Studies at the University of Arizona. A member of the Arizona NACWC since the late 1980s, she is a third generation club woman who inherited documents and memorabilia from her late grandmother, Mary Louise Wright-Euell, a former State President and a member of Tucson clubs since 1935. La Monica Everett-Haynes, journalist, graduate student and Sisters of Unity Club member, is the text co writer. Everett-Haynes has worked for various newspapers in cities such as Tucson, Salt Lake City, Houston and Seattle and is an avid community volunteer. ISBN 978-1-4276-2282-2.

The book cost $35 plus $4 mailing costs (total $39) and is available from the Arizona Association of Colored Women's Clubs at P.O. Box 85272, Tucson, Arizona, 85754 or through their website at http://members.cox.net/nacwc-arizona/book.htm.

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