03/30/2023
Shared from The Movement for Black Lives:
Johnnie Tillmon’s work lives on today in the efforts of organizations such as Movement for Family Power and Equity And Transformation, which leads a guaranteed basic income pilot program that gives direct cash payments of $500/month to system-impacted residents in Chicago. ✨
In our final Black Feminisms Month story, we’re honoring the leadership of Johnnie Tillmon, an unapologetically bold and radical Black feminist who knew what it took to radically transform America’s social welfare programs.
Until her death in 1995, Johnnie Tillmon organized poor and working-class people to demand the fair, equitable, and dignified distribution of cash assistance, food, and housing to families edged out of the American capitalist project and forced into poverty by racist beliefs and policymaking.
In 1972, as the Chair of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), Tillmon penned her classic essay, Welfare as a Woman’s Issue. In it, she unapologetically made a case for a feminist approach to eliminating the violence and indignity of social welfare programs by appealing to the interests of the broader feminist movement led by white, middle-class women.
Half a century before presidential hopefuls brought Universal Basic Income into mainstream political discourse, Tillmon and the NWRO introduced a Guaranteed Adequate Income, where people—mainly women—get wages and recognition for the work they already do.
Tillmon’s work lives on today in the efforts of organizations such as and , which leads a guaranteed basic income pilot program that gives direct cash payments of $500/month to system-impacted residents in Chicago.
In honor of Johnnie Tillmon’s legacy, we continue the fight to ensure our people and all people are treated with dignity, autonomy, and support to thrive. Read her powerful words here: https://m4bl.link/Women-Welfare
