Grace Lee Boggs was a longtime civil rights activist and a feminist who gave huge amounts of support towards movements in need.
Grace Lee Boggs was born on June 27, 1915 in Providence, Rhode Island. At a young age she moved to Queens, New York where she lived in a middle class neighborhood that mainly consisted of white citizens. During her time there she faced racism and discrimination as her family were the only Chinese family there, these encounters made her be more socially aware and realize there needed to be a change. Her family was not picture perfect as she realized that her father was still stuck with old fashion beliefs and her mother had big American dreams. This inspired Boggs activism which she later credited to her mom. In 1931 she attended Barnard College where she was an undergraduate. In 1935, she got a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a few years later she got a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Bryn Mawr College in 1940.
Many Jobs did not want to hire her because of her ethnicity and gender which made it difficult for her to find a job. Once she got a job she was not able to afford rent because of little pay which led to her living in a basement infested with rats. She later moved to Chicago and joined her first movement which was a tenants right movement and a workers party. The tenants rights movement was about addressing poor housing conditions and the workers ‘ party was to get social justice, this was Boggs first connection with the black community. She eventually moved to Detroit in the early 1950’s.
During her time in Detroit she was heavily involved in protests and activism, she involved herself in the Civil rights movement and the black power movement and along with that she organized marches but also advocated for the rights of workers. In 1953 she married her husband James Boggs, who was also an activist and they met while she was working on the newspaper. She and her husband both helped build a charter school that would highlight the city’s history and also community involvement.
Later on she would write five books that focused on activism, social justice, her own personal experiences, and the crisis in America. On October 5, 2015, Grace Lee Boggs passed away at the age of 100 years old. Her work continues to inspire many young people and she is an inspiration to many people today.
