Reading Black Feminism
Historically, the feminist movement has been centralized around white women. From the perspective of a privileged white person, I have been fed a very mainstream version of feminism. I have a lot of anxiety about talking about and publishing words about people of color as a white person, but I feel like it is important for other white feminists to self-educate on this topic because it is so important to try to understand that the intersections of oppression can alter peoples experiences of it.
I tried to compile a reading list that includes an overview of black feminist texts from courses I’ve taken at Oberlin, as well as including recommendations from friends who identify as black feminists:
- Ain’t I A Woman? Black Women & Feminism – bell hooks
- Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation – Beth E. Richie
- Assata: An Autobiography – Assata Shakur
- Blacks and Selected Poetry – Gwendolyn Brooks
- Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment – Patricia Hill Collins
- Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism – Patricia Hill Collins
- But Some Of Us Are Brave: All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: Black Women’s Studies – Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith
- “Combahee River Collective Statement” – The Combahee River Collective
- “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics” – Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
- Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center – bell hooks
- Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty – Dorothy Roberts
- Kindred – Octavia Butler
- Sister Outsider – Audre Lorde
- Soldier – June Jordan
- Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
- Women, Race, and Class – Angela Y. Davis
I have only included things that I am familiar with or my friends have recommended. If you have any suggestions for readings to add to this list, please comment below!
Age: 21 School: Oberlin College Major: Comparative Literature Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA Favorite writer: Harper Lee, Gloria Anzaldúa, Arundhati Roy, and Justin Torres are all up …
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