Black Women Framing Civil Rights as Global Human Rights: The Aretha B. McKinley Story
A largely overlooked 1960s activist linked domestic equality with international human rights, shaping policy and diplomacy.
In the 1960s, Aretha B. McKinley emerged as a behind‑the‑scenes force in New York’s Harlem, linking the fight for civil rights at home to a broader push for human rights worldwide. McKinley and a cadre of Black women activists reframed demands for citizenship as part of a universal struggle for dignity that extended beyond U.S. borders. Her work helped illuminate how Black women saw civil rights and human rights as inseparable goals.
Born and raised in Virginia, McKinley’s activism took root after she relocated to Harlem in the 1930s. There she joined Alpha Kappa Alpha and later helped organize the Consumers’ Protective Committee, founded in 1947 to challenge high prices and subpar goods in Harlem stores. Two years later she was elected recording secretary for the New York NAACP chapter and soon headed its National Emergency Civil Rights Mobilization, mobilizing Black women across the country to challenge segregation, unfair labor practices, and housing inequities. In 1959 she became the first woman elected national director of the American Council on Human Rights (ACHR), an organization devoted to educating the public about rights and freedoms. Under her leadership, the ACHR hosted workshops on leadership, voting, health, housing, and employment, including a notable session at Howard University that trained college students in civil rights activism and global affairs. The group stressed that protecting human rights required reframing domestic grievances within universal standards, underscoring the global implications of Black Americans’ ambitions for citizenship. Outside the U.S., McKinley and ACHR pushed the interconnection of civil rights with anti-colonial and anti-apartheid movements and championed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a guide for policy.
During the 1960s, McKinley helped deepen the international dimension of the movement. At the Fourth Annual ACHR Workshop, held at Howard University and drawing hundreds of activists, students, and politicians from across the country, attendees heard calls to forthrightly apply U.S. laws protecting human rights and to align foreign policy with universal standards. Senator John F. Kennedy—then a candidate for president—attended the gathering, signaling the interest of national leaders in linking domestic reform with global obligations. The ACHR reaffirmed its commitment to the UDHR and urged U.S. leaders to end colonialism and support anti-apartheid efforts in South Africa, along with broader rights for marginalized groups. McKinley helped knit a network of activists, scholars, and diplomats who believed American policy should reflect the inherent dignity of all people and the universality of human rights.
After interpersonal disagreements, McKinley parted ways with the ACHR in December 1960, but she continued to work in foreign affairs and human-rights advocacy. In 1968, as an Educational and Cultural Exchange officer with the State Department, she hosted a luncheon at the United Nations headquarters in New York for Marguerite Adjoavi Trenou, then secretary‑general of the Togolese Chamber of Commerce and later a prominent advocate for women and girls. Trenou served as secretary-general of the Togolese women’s union in the 1960s. Such exchanges helped American activists meet world leaders and deepen understanding of the challenges facing people of African descent, broadening the reach of U.S. human-rights diplomacy.
Scholars have since highlighted the pivotal role of Black women in shaping human rights history. Keisha N. Blain, a historian at Brown University and author of Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights (2025), writes about how activists like McKinley connected domestic civil rights to a global project. Time’s Made by History series has also explored these threads, showing that the struggle for civil rights in the United States has always been tied to a broader human-rights agenda. The McKinley story, long overlooked in mainstream history, offers a model for contemporary advocacy: reframing grievances as universal rights, building cross-border networks, and applying global norms to national policy. By remembering these contributions, new generations of activists can draw inspiration from Black women’s insistence that dignity, equality, and democratic participation are universal entitlements.