Secret Societies and the Fight for Black Freedom
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on May 28, 2023
The United Order of the Tents, a secret society for Black women dating back to the nineteenth century, has been in the news lately as its members fight to save their Brooklyn headquarters. Though often obscured in history, organizations like the Tents served an important role, supporting (and in many cases, continuing to support) powerful systems for organizing and fighting for civil rights. As historian Paul Lawrence Dunbar writes, “