This article examines the food politics of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), a prominent Black women’s organization, founded in 1935. I argue that the council used an intimate knowledge of themselves, Black women, and the South to transgress a hostile landscape and protect themselves and Black people. I make this argument by examining the words of their founder Mary McLeod Bethune, their 1960s activism, their hunger campaign, and other historical documents. For NCNW, respectability was not meant to silence their voices, but rather to allow them a thin veil of protection not given to Black women. First, I detail the history of the organization, its emphasis on making Black women a part of the U.S. democracy, and their work to end hunger. Second, I conceptually explore Black women’s inward and outward gaze, which includes some Black women’s strategic use of respectability politics to uphold moral values and their grounded knowledge of the South, its land and its people. Third, I consider how NCNW used their inward and outward gaze to make change and end hunger among Black people in the South. Finally, I conclude with thoughts on how we might understand the current political organizing power of Black women within a model for which NCNW created much of the groundwork.

本文考察了全国黑人妇女委员会 (NCNW) 的食品政治，该委员会是一个著名的黑人妇女组织，成立于 1935 年。我认为该委员会利用对自己、黑人妇女和南方的深入了解来克服敌对的环境保护自己和黑人。我通过研究他们的创始人玛丽·麦克劳德·白求恩 (Mary McLeod Bethune) 的话、他们 1960 年代的激进主义、他们的饥饿运动和其他历史文件来提出这一论点。对于 NCNW 来说，尊重并不意味着压制她们的声音，而是给她们一层薄薄的保护面纱，而不是黑人女性。首先，我详细介绍了该组织的历史，强调使黑人妇女成为美国民主的一部分，以及她们为消除饥饿所做的工作。其次，我从概念上探讨了黑人女性的内向和外向凝视，其中包括一些黑人女性战略性地利用体面政治来维护道德价值观和她们对南方、南方土地和南方人民的扎实了解。第三，我考虑了 NCNW 如何利用他们向内和向外的目光来改变和消除南方黑人的饥饿。最后，我总结了关于我们如何在 NCNW 为之奠定大量基础的模型中理解黑人妇女当前的政治组织力量的想法。