Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought

by Guy-Sheftall, Beverly

• ISBN13: 9781565842564
• ISBN10: 1565842561
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-07-01
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

"In this groundbreaking collection of articles, Dr. Guy-Sheftall has taken us from the early 1830s to contemporary times. Only since the seventies have black women used the term 'feminism.' And, yet, it is that concept that she uses to bring into the same frame the ideas and analyses of Maria Stewart, Sojourner Truth, and Frances Harper of the early nineteenth century, and the work of women such as Audre Lourde, Barbara Smith, and bell hooks, who stand on the threshold of the twenty-first century.--from the epilogue by Johnnetta B. Cole, President, Spelman College

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii	(8)
Selections	xxi	(4)
Acknowledgments	xxv
Introduction	1	(22)
The Evolution of Feminist Consciousness Among African American Women
CHAPTER ONE Beginnings: In Defense of Our Race and Sex, 1831-1900	23	(54)
Introduction	23	(2)
MARIA MILLER STEWART	25	(1)
Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, the Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build	26	(4)
Lecture Delivered at the Franklin Hall	30	(5)
SOJOURNER TRUTH	35	(1)
Woman's Rights	36	(1)
When Woman Gets Her Rights Man Will Be Right	37	(2)
FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER	39	(1)
Woman's Political Future	40	(3)
ANNA JULIA COOPER	43	(1)
The Status of Woman in America	44	(7)
JULIA A. J. FOOTE	51	(1)
Women in the Gospel	52	(3)
GERTRUDE BUSTILL MOSSELL	55	(1)
The Opposite Point of View	56	(4)
A Lofty Study	60	(3)
MARY CHURCH TERRELL	63	(1)
The Progress of Colored Women	64	(5)
IDA WELLS-BARNETT	69	(1)
Lynch Law in America	70	(7)
CHAPTER TWO Triumph and Tribulation: Defining Black Womanhood, 1920-1957	77	(66)
Introduction	77	(2)
ELISE JOHNSON MCDOUGALD	79	(1)
The Struggle of Negro Women for Sex and Race Emancipation	80	(5)
ALICE DUNBAR-NELSON	85	(1)
The Negro Woman and the Ballot	86	(3)
AMY JACQUES GARVEY	89	(1)
Introduction	89	(2)
Ula Taylor
Our Women Getting into the Larger Life	91	(2)
Women as Leaders	93	(2)
SADIE TANNER MOSELL ALEXANDER	95	(1)
Negro Women in Our Economic Life	96	(5)
FLORYNCE "FLO" KENNEDY	101	(1)
A Comparative Study: Accentuating the Similarities of the Societal Position of Women and Negroes	102	(5)
CLAUDIA JONES	107	(1)
An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!	108	(17)
LORRAINE HANSBERRY	125	(1)
Introduction	125	(3)
Margaret B. Wilkerson
Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex: An American Commentary	128	(15)
CHAPTER THREE Civil Rights and Women's Liberation: Racial/Sexual Politics in the Angry Decades	143	(86)
Introduction	143	(2)
FRANCES BEALE	145	(1)
Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female	146	(11)
MARY ANN WEATHERS	157	(1)
An Argument for Black Women's Liberation as a Revolutionary Force	158	(5)
LINDA LA RUE	163	(1)
The Black Movement and Women's Liberation	164	(11)
PATRICIA HADEN, DONNA MIDDLETON, AND PATRICIA ROBINSON	175	(2)
A Historical and Critical Essay for Black Women	177	(8)
PAULI MURRAY	185	(1)
The Liberation of Black Women	186	(3)
ANGELA DAVIS	199	(1)
Reflections on the Black Woman's Role in the Community of Slaves	200	(19)
MICHELE WALLACE	219	(1)
Anger in Isolation: A Black Feminist's Search for Sisterhood	220	(9)
CHAPTER FOUR Beyond the Margins: Black Women Claiming Feminism	229	(130)
Introduction	229	(2)
THE COMBAHEE RIVER COLLECTIVE	231	(1)
A Black Feminist Statement	232	(9)
CHERYL CLARKE	241	(1)
Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance	242	(11)
BARBARA SMITH	253	(1)
Some Home Truths on the Contemporary Black Feminist Movement	254	(15)
BELL HOOKS	269	(1)
Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory	270	(13)
AUDRE LORDE	283	(1)
Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference	284	(9)
DEBORAH K. KING	293	(1)
Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of Black Feminist Ideology	294	(25)
JACQUELYN GRANT	319	(1)
Black Theology and the Black Woman	320	(17)
PATRICIA HILL COLLINS	337	(1)
The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought	338	(21)
CHAPTER FIVE The Body Politic: Sexuality, Violence, and Reproduction	359	(92)
Introduction	359	(2)
BARBARA OMOLADE	361	(1)
Hearts of Darkness	362	(17)
DARLENE CLARK HINE	379	(1)
Rape and the Inner Lives of Black Women in the Middle West: Preliminary Thoughts on the Culture of Dissemblance	380	(9)
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM	389	(1)
Facing the Abortion Question	390	(7)
BETH E. RICHIE	397	(1)
Battered Black Women: A Challenge for the Black Community	398	(7)
JUNE JORDAN	405	(2)
A New Politics of Sexuality	407	(6)
PAULA GIDDINGS	413	(1)
The Last Taboo	414	(15)
PEARL CLEAGE	429	(1)
What Can I Say	430	(3)
EVELYNN HAMMONDS	433	(1)
Missing Persons: African American Women, AIDS, and the History of Disease	434	(17)
CHAPTER SIX Reading the Academy	451	(36)
Introduction	451	(2)
MARGARET WALKER ALEXANDER	453	(1)
Black Women in Academia	454	(7)
GLORIA JOSEPH	461	(1)
Black Feminist Pedagogy and Schooling in Capitalist White America	462	(11)
ELIZABETH HIGGINBOTHAM	473	(1)
Designing an Inclusive Curriculum: Bringing All Women into the Core	474	(13)
CHAPTER SEVEN Discourses of Resistance: Interrogating Black Nationalist Ideologies	487	(62)
Introduction	487	(2)
PAULINE TERRELONGE	489	(1)
Feminist Consciousness and Black Women	490	(13)
E. FRANCES WHITE	503	(1)
Africa on My Mind: Gender, Counterdiscourse, and African American Nationalism	504	(21)
BARBARA RANSBY AND TRACYE MATTHEWS	525	(1)
Black Popular Culture and the Transcendence of Patriarchal Illusions	526	(11)
ALICE WALKER	537	(1)
In the Closet of the Soul	538	(11)
Epilogue: Johnnetta B. Cole	549	(4)
Selected Bibliography	553	(16)
Index	569