voc ep: 47 Gloria Richardson

Gloria Richardson, Chair of the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Coalition. (undated photo)

Gloria Richardson Dandridge (born Gloria St. Clair Hayes, May 6, 1922) is best known as the leader of the Cambridge movement, a civil rights struggle in Cambridge, Maryland in the early 1960s. She was recognized as a major figure in the Civil Rights Movement at the time and was honored on the stage at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Democracy Now!)

In 1961, a Freedom Ride came to Cambridge. The black city council member at that time attempted to discourage the campaign by insisting that the city was already desegregated. In contrast, Richardson and her college-age daughter Donna both responded to outreach by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). At first Richardson rarely participated in civil disobedience, because she could not accept the original SNCC nonviolence regulations. Nonetheless, in 1962, she was asked and helped organize the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee, the first adult-led affiliate of SNCC, and became its official spokesperson. (alchetron.com)

"Robert F. Kennedy, Gloria Richardson, and Others for Treaty of Cambridge Press Conference". (Photograph: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library And Museum)