Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies

“Companions”

Solidarity and Race in Disability Subcultures in the United States

Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies (2021), 15, (4), 401–418.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3828/jlcds.2021.32
Language
English
Pages
18

Abstract

The documentary Crip Camp presents a 1970s summer camp for disabled youth as a place of friendship and political dialogues that spawned the American disability rights movement. The film also represented Camp Jened as a haven of racial harmony and inclusion. Jened was not the only American micro-community of disability solidarity and political possibilities that also involved questions of racial politics. Scholars have criticized disability activists and disability studies scholars for neglecting problems of racial oppression. This historical study examines three examples of empowering disability subcultures in twentieth century America: Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Warm Springs rehabilitation resort from the mid-1920s through the mid-1940s, the Rolling Quads at the University of California, Berkeley, in the late 1960s, and Camp Interdependence in California in the 1980s. The article interrogates the racial politics of these egalitarian communities.

Access Token

FormatArticle

£25.00
READ THIS ARTICLE
References
Full Text
PDF
If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

Works Cited

Barner, Billy Charles. Interview by Kathy Cowan, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 27 Mar. 2000. Web. 16 Mar. 2021. Google Scholar

Bell, Chris. “Introducing White Disability Studies: A Modest Proposal.” The Disability Studies Reader. 2nd ed. Ed. Lennard J. Davis. New York: Routledge, 2006. 275-82. Print. Google Scholar

Ben-Moshe, Liat and Sandy Magaña. “An Introduction to Race, Gender, and Disability: Intersectionality, Disability Studies, and Families of Color.” Women, Gender, and Families of Color 2.2 (Fall 2014): 105-14. Print. Google Scholar

Bronston, William, dir. Discover Independence. Sacramento, CA: World Interdependence Fund, 1992. Film. Google Scholar

Bronston, William, dir. Interview by Kathy Cowan, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 7 Feb. 2002. Web. 16 Mar. 2021. Google Scholar

Bronston, William, dir. Personal interview, 5 Nov. 2019. Audio recording. Google Scholar

Caulfield, Catherine. Interview by Susan O’Hara, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 15 Mar. 2000. Web. 16 Mar. 2021. Google Scholar

Danforth, Scot. “Becoming the Rolling Quads: Politics at the University of California, Berkeley, In the 1960s.” History of Education Quarterly 58.4 (2018): 506-36. Print. Google Scholar

Davis, Lennard J. Enabling Acts: The Hidden Story of How the Americans with Disabilities Act Gave the Largest US Minority Its Rights. Boston, MA: Beacon, 2015. Print. Google Scholar

Dibner, Eric. Interview by Kathy Cowan, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 6 Jun. 1998. Web. 16 Mar. 2021. Google Scholar

Erevelles, Nirmala and Andrea Minear. “Unspeakable Offenses: Untangling Race and Disability in Discourses of Intersectionality.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 4.2 (2010): 127-45. Print. Google Scholar

Fluegelman, Andrew. More New Games. San Francisco, CA: New Games Foundation, 1981. Print. Google Scholar

Fluegelman, Andrew. The New Games Book. San Francisco, CA: New Games Foundation, 1976. Print. Google Scholar

Frederick, Angela and Dara Shifrer. “Race and Disability: From Analogy to Intersectionality.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 5.2 (2019): 200-14. Print. Google Scholar

Fuss, Michael. Interview by Sharon Bonney, 2 Nov. 1998, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Web. 16 Mar. 2021. Google Scholar

Gallagher, Hugh Gregory. FDR’s Splendid Deception. New York: Dodd Mead, 1985. Print. Google Scholar

Gregory, Cleburne. “Franklin Roosevelt Will Swim to Health.” Atlanta Journal. 16 Oct. 1924. Print. Google Scholar

Grimes, Charles A. Interview by David Landes, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2000. Web. 16 Mar. 2021. Google Scholar

Harmon, F. Martin. The Warm Springs Story: Legacy and Legend. Macon, GA: Mercer UP, 2014. Print. Google Scholar

Heumann, Judith and Kristen Joiner. Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist. Boston, MA: Beacon, 2020. Print. Google Scholar

Holland, Daniel. “Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Shangri-La: Foreshadowing the Independent Living Movement in Warm Springs, Georgia, 1926-1945.” Disability and Society 21.5 (2006): 513-35. Print. Google Scholar

Lippman, Jr., Theo. The Squire of Warm Springs: FDR in Georgia, 1924-1945. New York: Playboy, 1977. Print. Google Scholar

Moodley, Jacqueline and Lauren Graham. “The Importance of Intersectionality in Disability and Gender Studies.” Agenda 29.2 (2015) 24-33. Print. Google Scholar

Newnham, Nicole and James LeBrecht. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, Chicago: Higher Ground, 2020. Film. Google Scholar

Nishida, Akemi. “Understanding Political Development through an Intersectionality Framework: Life Stories of Disability Activists.” Disability Studies Quarterly 36.2 (2016). Web. Google Scholar

Oshinsky, David, M. Polio: An American Story. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print. Google Scholar

Perotti, Linda. Interview by Kathy Cowan, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2 Apr. 1999. Web. 16 Mar. 2021. Google Scholar

Rable, George C. “The South and the Politics of Antilynching Legislation, 1920-1940.” The Journal of Southern History 51.2 (1985): 201-20. Print. Google Scholar

Rogers, Naomi. “Polio Chronicles: Warm Springs and Disability Politics in the 1930s.” Asclepio: Revista de Historia de la Medicina y de la Ciencia 41.1 (2009): 143-74. Print. Google Scholar

Rolling Quads. Proposal for Center for Independent Living, box 1, Michael Fuss Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1969. Archives. Google Scholar

Rolling Quads. Proposal for the Physically Disabled Students Program, box 1, Michael Fuss Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1969. Archives. Google Scholar

Rorabaugh, W. J. Berkeley at War: The 1960s. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1990. Print. Google Scholar

Ross, Carl J. Letter to J. A. Zelle, Gerald Belchick Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 12 Oct. 1967. Archives. Google Scholar

Smith, Jane S. Patenting the Sun: Polio and the Salk Vaccine. New York: Morrow, 1990. Print. Google Scholar

Stevens, Ruth. Hi Ya Neighbor: Intimate Glimpses of Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Warm Springs, Georgia, 1924-45. Atlanta: Tupper and Love, 1947. Print. Google Scholar

“Students Accuse State Worker.” San Francisco Chronicle. 19 Sep. 1969. Print. Google Scholar

“UC Cripples Score Cut of Monies.” Berkeley (CA) Daily Gazette. 20 Sep. 1969. Print. Google Scholar

Walker, Turnley. Journey Together. Philadelphia: McKay, 1951. Print. Google Scholar

Walker, Turnley. Roosevelt and the Warm Springs Story. New York: Wyn, 1953. Print. Google Scholar

West, Cornel. Race Matters. New York: Vintage, 1994. Print. Google Scholar

Willsmore, Herbert R. Interview by Susan O’Hara, Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement Oral History, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 7 Mar. 2000. Web. 16 Mar. 2021. Google Scholar

If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

Details

Author details

Danforth, Scot