The Women of Operation Breadbasket: A Lost Chapter in the Chicago Civil Rights Movement

This study is the first scholarly exploration of the Women of Operation Breadbasket (WOB). Founded in 1967 by Rev. Mrs. Willie T. Barrow, the WOB was the direct-action unit of Operation Breadbasket-Chicago (OB-C), the economic justice arm of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in the North. Placing Black women at the forefront of the movement in Chicago, the WOB empowered them to assert their agency in the pursuit of social change within their communities. Yet, the WOB remains woefully understudied, rendering it virtually invisible to scholars and the broader public. Consequently, fundamental questions emerge: What were the origins of the WOB? Who was Rev. Barrow, and what role did she play in the WOB? How did the WOB advance the civil rights movement in Chicago? What new insights can we gain by studying the WOB as an organizational site in the civil rights movement? To address these questions, I draw on womanist sociological theory to examine an intrinsic case study of the WOB, recovering this lost chapter in the Chicago civil rights movement. I conclude by considering how the mere existence of WOB is instructive and generative, opening up new avenues for future research.