“God Has Always Had a Time, a Place, and a People”: Vera Mae Pigee (1924–2007)

Mrs. Vera Mae Pigee identified herself as a businesswoman, mother, and leader who worked to build local and statewide movements in Mississippi long before college students came to the state to assist and propel activities forward in the 1960s. A beautician by trade, an avid churchgoer, and an activist mother, Mrs. Pigee supported and mentored youth through the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and as secretary of the local branch she organized behind the scenes to ensure that the movement moved. In 1975, Vera Pigee wrote and self-published part one of her autobiography, Struggle of Struggles, and part two in 1979 to set the record straight, to make sure that her work and that of her collaborators did not get erased by the men pushing her aside in the NAACP and in the histories written by professional historians. In her autobiography she details how she fought white supremacy and sexism on multiple registers, and the costs of that work too. While she did not embrace the term feminism, often viewed as too white and middle-class, Mrs. Pigee understood gendered dynamics and had exploited them when useful (through her activist mothering), but she had felt the bite of sexism in the movement’s memorialization. So she wrote her story that I have recently republished. It takes a woman sure of herself and unafraid to speak up in order to do this work and to fight others taking advantage of her labors and demand recognition. Mrs. Pigee’s story represents so many women whose contributions and leadership is rendered invisible by social norms and politics. My paper will delve into the autobiography to tell her story.