1920–1922: (Black Women’s Transnational Solidarity and the Founding of the ICWDR — Concern for Violence Against Haitian Girls Being the Primary Concern for B…

1920–1922: (Black Women’s Transnational Solidarity and the Founding of the ICWDR — Concern for Violence Against Haitian Girls Being the Primary Concern for Black Women Across the Region Who Witnessed Similar Technologies of Violence by Colonial and Postcolonial Militarization Against Women of the “Darker Races” Globally, By 1920 NACW President Mary Church Terrell and Margaret Washington Expressing Concern, In August 1922 Theodora Holly Mme. Charles Dubé Mary Church Terrell Margaret Washington Addie Hunton and Mary McLeod Bethune Founding the International Council of Women of the Darker Races — the Primary Focus of the Inaugural Year Being “Haitian Women and Children,” Holly Spearheading the Investigation as the Daughter of Emigrationist Bishop James Theodore Holly Fluent in English and French and Invested in Communicating the Life of Haitian Girls to Black People in the Region): The growing awareness and concern for the violence enacted on Haitian girls was also the primary concern for Black women across the region who witnessed similar technologies of violence used by colonial and postcolonial militarization against women of the darker races globally. By 1920, Mary Church Terrell, president of the National Association of Colored Women, and Margaret Washington also expressed concern and an organizational pivot to address anti-Black violence in the United States and the Caribbean. In August 1922 a small group of women — including Theodora Holly, African American activist, Haitian resident, and French-language editor for the UNIA’s newspaper the Negro World; Mme. Charles Dubé, a Haitian teacher and philanthropist; Mary Church Terrell; Margaret Washington; Addie Hunton; and Mary McLeod Bethune — founded the International Council of Women of the Darker Races. The primary focus of the organization’s inaugural year was Haitian women and children. Holly spearheaded most of the investigation into conditions in Haiti. The daughter of emigrationist Bishop James Theodore Holly, whose parents had moved to Haiti to escape the racial prejudice of the United States, Holly was fluent in English and French and deeply invested in communicating the life and experiences of Haitian girls to Black people throughout the region. The ICWDR’s founding represented something the occupation’s intelligence apparatus had failed to comprehend: that Black women across national borders were building the intellectual and organizational infrastructure to hold empire accountable — not through the mechanisms of the state but through the solidarity of the dispossessed.