Martha Prescod Norman Noonan was a civil rights activist who is known for her work within the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and co-editing a 2012 book Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC.
Noonan was born on February 25, 1945 [1] in Providence, Rhode Island where she was raised as one of the only black students at the predominantly white institutions she attended. [2] Her parents were active in the Progressive Party, [3]: 45 and her father was once the state chairman of the party. [4] She graduated from the University of Michigan in December 1964, [1] and has a master's degree from Wayne State University where she studied history. [5] Noonan completed coursework for a PhD at the University of Michigan. [5]
Soon after arriving at Michigan, Noonan joined VOICE, a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, [2] and she raised funds for Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) by selling copies of a documentary record made about the Albany Movement. [1] When she heard presentations by Curtis Hayes and Tom Hayden [3] : 45 she was "almost giddy with the idea that someone my age could take action that might change the overall racial situation in the United States”. [2] From 1962 to 1963, Martha organized a Friends of SNCC group in Ann Arbor, [3]: 45 which was providing support for the student activists in the south. [1] In 1963 at the age of 18, Noonan first went to the American south. [6] She ended up in Albany, Georgia where she noted she "was scared the whole time I was there”. [4] By 1965 Noonan deliberately was eating in newly integrated places, such as a Holiday Inn in Selma, Alabama, where she remained calm while keeping her right to eat in such institutions. [7] Noonan crossed paths with other civil rights activists including Prathia Hall [8] and Stokely Carmichael. [9]
Noonan married Silas Norman in 1967 and they had one son. [2] She taught classes on African American history at the University of Michigan, the University of Toledo, and Wayne State University. [4] In 2012, Noonan co-edited the book Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC which was reviewed by The Women's Review of Books, [10] The Journal of African American History, [11] and the Journal of American Ethnic History. [12]
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