Black Feminism By Alice Walker

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Ed. By Patricia Hill Collins. (New York: Routledge, 2000. ii, 336 pp. Cloth, $128.28, ISBN 0-415-92483-9. Paper, $26.21, 0-415-92484-7.)

The problem with this approach is that it depends upon a view of feminism that does not cut across racial and class lines, and ignores the societal impact of the normalization of sex work. Liberal feminism is, due to this, a fundamentally exclusionary philosophy. Cheryl Butler, in her essay applying critical race feminism to the question of the sex trade and sex trafficking in America, reveals the holes in liberal feminist theory. She specifically calls out how “liberal feminist perspectives on prostitution have focused on… the need to protect the rights of women to choose prostitution,” and, in doing so, ignore “how racism and other factors obscure choice for women of color in the United States.” According to Butler, discussions about

Coalition politics is significant to black feminists because it calls on other groups that have experienced some form of being marginalized and emphasizes that working together would create a more impactful result than continuing being divided. Black women experience oppression from multiple levels including race, class and gender and for this reason, back women activists, scholars, and worker must continuously seek to unite and for the forefront of a revolutionary struggle to define and achieve liberation for all oppressed people.” (Harmer and Neville 1999: p.22) Throughout the quarter, we have looked a variety of authors such as Audre Lorde, Patricia Hill Collins, Cathy J. Cohen and Janet Mock who have used their literature to

In her 1981 book “Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism” author and social activist Bell Hooks discusses the stigma against black women and how it is rooted in the combination of sexism and racism that black women experienced during times of slavery. Hooks explains that the stigma that this has caused effects black women even today in supposedly safe spaces such as the civil rights and feminist movements. She goes on to explain how the popular “feminist movement” caters only to white women while simultaneously demonizing black (and all other non-white), poor, and even disabled and queer women.

The Black Feminist Movement was formed in response to the rise and success of the Black Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Liberation Movement. In an era of drastic social reform, many black women believed that their needs were not being properly addressed. Black Feminism played a significant role in American History by highlighting the flaws in the various liberation movements that arose. In doing so, it gave rise to many Black Feminist Organizations which in turn fostered a sense of accomplishment and effectiveness in the Black Female Community.

Also, womanist movement allows black women to affirm their intersectionality without the pressure of letting go part of themselves. Taylor (1998) explained that the term ‘womanism’ to black women means that “it flows from a both/and worldview, a consciousness that allows for the resolution of seeming contradictions not through an either/or negation but through the interaction and wholeness” (26). Black women are able to embrace their different identities by prohibiting class differences, racism and sexism which were embedded in the white feminist movement. This serves as a determination for black women to love themselves by giving attention to their own needs in order to avoid self-deconstruction and resist opinion

Black Feminism has proven to have a profound effect on society’s history, and is now beginning to impact even more this day and age. Black feminism is broader than what comes to mind. It is an essential component of black struggle against oppression and authority. Generally Black feminism is used to empower and liberate black women. Throughout the years many liberals have tried to exclude and silence black feminist. Black feminist have demanded for social, economic and political equality, and desire a compatible and progressive vision of social justice (Freedman 2002). This is based on the historical and ongoing struggles against the race and gender of black women across America. It can be experienced within the home, in an occupational setting, in the communities, and more so within the culture. Today African women, especially those on college campuses have accepted feminism as representation for all women. Feminist perspectives seem to be appealing African female writers who present African life through the favored feminist ideologies of African male as overbearing and instinctive. Feminism has always looked to influence popular culture by its presence and by its persistent demands to be recognized as the official voice of all women. Black feminism nowadays is somewhat based off of things that are seen through the eyes of poor women, women of immigration, and lesbian women. The struggle of black feminist comes from black women not only being equal to black

In the article entitled “Learning from the Outsider Within status: the sociological significance of black feminist thought”, Collins identified the challenges that the Black sociologists faced when they reconciled their perspectives and beliefs with the dominate academics. Collins examined the importance of researching marginalized groups of black women regarding their self-definition and self-valuation, the interlocking nature of oppression and the significance of the Black women culture.

Even though black women were disadvantaged not only by race but by gender, they still found the courage to speak out. Black feminists aim to redifine the importance of Black women’s culture. This places a greater emphasis on the role of historically specific political economies in explaining the endurances of certain cultural themes because : The actions that the oppressed take against their oppressors are far more complex than previous social theory. Black women may conform to their opression while simultaniously rejecting their at the bottom.(Washington) Rebecca Washington states

Black Feminist is a way to address or identify a different characteristic features that a verity of people have but is viewed differently from other people that don’t have those characteristics. Black feminist and feminist in general can have positive and negative output towards people the positive benefit that gives people is that they can show or tell a point of view that can be relevant to everybody. The negative output that can be viewed is the way it’s addressed, some people can’t understand messages or concerns if it’s not being shared properly and can defeat the purpose. Black feminist is very important especially when there are people who live in the U.S. because it’s our right to feel comfortable in our country.

Black feminist theory influenced Black women’s participation in the feminists and Civil Rights movements in the 1970s. In mirroring the foremothers of Black feminist living room meetings to lyrics in hip-hop feminism, cyberfeminism, and hashtag feminism to created new ways for each generation of Black women to combat racism and gender oppression. Black Lives Matter movement and #Say her name campaign is the reality for Black women today letting us know, Black feminist perspective is still necessary and in

Black feminism is womanism. Womanism is black feminism. The term “black feminism” was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. Black feminism not only deals with empowering women, but it fights against sexism, classism, and racism. Within the movement, the black feminists believed that all of these things are related which is called intersectionality. The black feminist movement is said to become popular in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement but I disagree because it started with Sojourner Truth in the nineteenth century. The black feminist movement is separated from the white feminist movement because of the oppression that black women suffer from is different from any other woman and there was racism in the white feminist movement. I will

By shutting out black women, lesbian women and other groups oppressed by identifying as women feminism loses some power and gains hate. Audrey Lorde and Patricia Hill Collins explain the outright exclusivity of feminist groups and feminist thought. They both explain this feeling of exclusivity of feminism and to be accepted into feminist culture black women must relinquish her blackness. To be accepted into black culture they must relinquish her feminism. Collins and Lorde explain their circumstance and difficulty of never being accepted by their communities and for the oppression they feel not being recognized as inequality by such communities.

Alice Walker talks about how the movement of Black feminism is combatting the racial, sexual, and class oppression placed upon the African American community, more specifically on the black woman. However, she states that the school of black feminism rejects the idea separatism within the black community. The sole purpose is to bring unity within the black community in order to uplift the community as a whole. Also, she talks about the idea of separatism within the black community leaves out far too many people and that is simply not the goal of the movement. In contrast, while women of color do struggle within the black community under sexism, there is still a unity between black women and men when it comes to the

Black feminism arose from the civil rights movement and mainstream feminism. From civil rights activists, black women were treated as “second-class citizens”, and racism came from their fellow feminist sisters. Black women ran an uphill battle, fighting “racism, classism, and even at times homophobia” (Rich 32).