‘If the Time is not Ripe, Then it is Your Job to Ripen the Time!’ The Transformation of the YWCA in the USA from Segregated Association to Interracial Organization, 1930–1965

Abstract

This article explores the processes behind the transformation of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in the USA from a segregated organization in 1920 to an organization promoting racial equality, both within its ranks and in the wider community by 1965. Despite the continuation of segregated practices within some parts of the YWCA until the late 1960s, African‐American women were able to influence the YWCA within national divisions, notably the Negro Leadership Conference and the National Student Council. The influence of African‐American women within the national organisation made the YWCA’s toleration of segregation, both within its own association and in American society, untenable. The interracial friendships and relationships formed by women within the YWCA were crucial in breaking down the national organization’s acceptance of segregation and creating the will to overcome regional inertia, conservatism and hostility.