Native daughter : the story of Anita Whitney / by Al Richmond.

I. The first glimmer -- II. Tender, beautiful years -- III. "I loved my people" -- IV. From suffrage to socialism -- V. War and aftermath -- VI. The case of Anita Whitney -- VII. Formative years -- VIII. The great crisis -- IX. Best known, most beloved -- X. The secret of leadership.

Charlotte Anita Whitney, known as Anita to her colleagues and friends, was an exceptional activist for social and economic justice during the early decades of the 20th Century. She came from a patrician background – an uncle was a U.S. Supreme Court justice – and she graduated from Wellesley College before returning to her home state of California. Whitney undertook a restless journey seeking an authentic and effective means to counter the injustice she found in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She travelled from reformist Progressive Era politics to radical labor pursuits. She later became a principal organizer for the Communist Party USA. Whitney may be best known as the plaintiff in Whitney v. California¸ a case before the US Supreme Court in which Justice Louis Brandeis held that a “clear and present danger” was required before a legislative act could restrict the right to free speech. Al Richmond, the author of this work, was a long-time labor activist and a principal writer for The Daily People’s World, the most progressive newspaper on the West Coast. His biography of Whitney was his first published book. He undertook Native Daughter as a tribute to Whitney (1867-1955) in 1942 for her 75th birthday and as a gift to her friends, colleagues, and admirers. It is a narrative biography, not an historical or academic work, but it is nevertheless an impressively written account of a woman not as well know as she should be. Richmond’s work is the only full biography of Anita Whitney, and he based much of his narrative on personal interviews with her.