Hidden Figures: Johnnie Tillmon #BlackHERstoryMonth 16/29 (Patreon)

Johnnie Tillmon (1926–1995) was a welfare rights activist. Born Johnnie Lee Percy in Scott, Arkansas, she worked in the cotton fields  from the age of seven. In 1948, she married James Tillmon, and although they had six children, she left him in 1952 because of his ‘running around.’ 

She moved to California in 1959, settling in the Watts neighborhood, and became involved in local activism as a union shop steward in the Compton laundry where she worked. Tillmon also organized workers, registered Black voters for local California elections, and became involved in a community association called the Nickerson Garden Planning Organization which was established to improve living conditions in the housing projects where she lived.

In 1963, Tillmon fell ill with tonsillitis; after being hospitalized, she ‪was forced to get on welfare while she recovered, as she could not work and provide for her six children. Tillmon grew to despise the welfare caseworkers who disrespected, dehumanized and mistreated her as a poor black woman. ‪Fed up with the degradation, Tillmon founded one of the first welfare rights groups in the country. The women called themselves Aid to Needy Children (ANC) Mothers Anonymous, and by August 1963, they had opened an office staffed by welfare recipients who helped others fight back against welfare bureaucracy, get special grants, and give their children the food, clothes, and shelter they needed. It won millions of dollars for women children’s medical services and helped to create the food voucher program known as WIC (for Women, Infants, and Children).

ANC Mothers Anonymous later became part of the National Welfare Rights Organization, with Tillmon as the first chair of the NWRO. In 1972 she became its executive director when NWRO founder George Wiley resigned. That same year, Tillmon penned a groundbreaking essay,  "Welfare Is a Woman's Issue," which was published in Ms. magazine and emphasized women's right to adequate income, regardless of whether they worked in a factory or at home raising children. Tillmon later expanded on the idea of adequate income for all as head of the national welfare rights organization, focusing less on welfare rights and pushing for a guaranteed minimum income for all in the United States. 

The push yielded results in 1969, when the White House announced the Family Assistance Plan that guaranteed minimum income for families below the poverty line. A week after the announcement, Gallup polls found that two thirds of the nation, Republicans as well as Democrats, supported the plan, which got through the House of Representatives, but died in the Senate Finance Committee. Despite their success, by March 1975, the NWRO was forced to shut down due to bankruptcy. 

After the NWRO went under in 1975, Tillmon continued fighting for welfare rights and adequate income for all at both the local and state level. She died in Los Angeles in 1995, at the age of 69.

#HiddenFigures #JohnnieTillmon

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Links:

Welfare is a Women's Issue by Johnnie Tillmon:

https://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/learn/resources/welfare-womens-issue-johnnie-tillmon

'The Mothers Who Fought To Radically Reimagine Welfare:'

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/06/09/730684320/the-mothers-who-fought-to-radically-reimagine-welfare

'This Day in Feminist History - Johnnie Tillmon:'

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/this-day-in-feminist-history-johnnie-tillmon-nwro

'JOHNNIES TILLMON - PROMINENT ACTIVIST IN THE WELFARE RIGHTS MOVEMENT:'

https://blackthen.com/johnnie-tillmon-prominent-activist-welfare-rights-movement/

JOHNNIE TILLMON (1926-1995):

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/tillmon-johnnie-1926-1995/

Forgotten Feminisms - Johnnie Tillmon’s Battle Against ‘The Man:’

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/06/26/forgotten-feminisms-johnnie-tillmons-battle-against-the-man/

Johnnie Tillmon (Wikipedia):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnnie_Tillmon