StarrAnn Ferguson

WGS: Classics in Fem – 201

Instructor: D. Polyak

November 21, 2017

Theory Paper: First Draft

The Right Feminist Theory for the Oppressed

Black women in culture have dealt with a great deal of oppression and persecution,

especially from politics, the government, men and the white culture. When defining feminism

according to the societal meaning, it is “a range of political movements, ideologies, and social

movements that share a common goal: to define, establish and achieve political and economic

and social equality of sexes”. Although, the theory of feminism is always related to the culture of

white women, black women have been often excluded in the purpose of feminist theory and

politics, when majority of the movements, including equal pay, receiving education, rights in

marriage, sexual harassment domestic violence, etc., have been more of a tyranny to the African

American women than white women.

In defining what exactly feminism demonstrates and represents, African American

women have only been ostracized and excluded from how feminism started. Throughout history

all women have been under the man, it has been shown the fight for all women’s body rights and

freedom, but African American women had to fight just a little bit harder. As black feminism

started to push out the movement of not only sexist, political and social structures, they tackled

gay liberation and black nationalism, showing the intersectionality perspective from black

women who went through true femininity issues across the world.
 In feminism, the feminist theory represents itself in the nature of gender inequality,

examining men and women roles and feminist politics among all women. However, the terms of

feminist theory and politics, show a great deal of discourse and challenges for the black woman.

As ‘black feminism’ expands the definition and representation on the feminist theory, it explores

black women in particular, having more of the oppression factors of both racial and gender

inequality. Bell Hooks explains in “Theory as Liberatory Practice” 1, feminist theory provides

women with a sense of healing “This ‘lived’ experience of critical thinking, of reflection and

analysis, became a place where I worked at explaining the hurt and making it go away.”, healing

is represented by feminist theory, as it provides them with a sense of placement and makes it

more comfortable and inspirational by relating to theory, but also practicing it to relieve that pain

that Hooks said she once felt in the beginning of the piece.

The idea of theory and practice serves the oppressed as agency. The individuals or black

women in this case, who experience marginalization by the oppressors in culture, seek power in

the space of theorizing. Theories such as feminism theory, black nationalism, queer theory, etc.,

are all formulated theories in the matter of their oppression, but move into it as a practice. As

practice is to be good theoretically, the third wave of feminism results in the birth of black

feminism. It includes women of color, immigrants and all of those who were missing from the

theory, and allows them to give their struggles a voice and a platform.

For black women, it’s a strong purpose for feminism against the superior culture. Racism

is a big part of a black woman’s anger and rebellious attitude as they have to demand respect in

politics and in society. Audre Lorde’s chapter “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to

1 Hooks, Bell. "Theory as liberatory practice." Yale JL & Feminism 4 (1991): 71

Racism” 2 explains how the mainstream has fragmented the idea of a black woman’s anger into

being divisive and scary. However, the source of the anger in the black woman revolves around

the power and how anger is the response to racism while being silenced for centuries. The

creation of feminism revolves on the theory of silence of black women, bringing forward the idea

and question of examining the emotion and survival of being a black feminist, as it’s different

from the white feminist theory.

The idea of anger for the black woman, Lorde explains, is the difference in use of anger

and hatred towards the oppressor. She explains how anger serves as powerful source of energy

when fighting back:

“But anger expressed and translated into action in the service of our vision and our future

is a liberating and strengthening act of clarification, for it is in the painful process of this

translation that we identify who are our allies with whom we have grave differences, and

who are our genuine enemies.” 3

However, the use of anger in the direction of the oppressors, shows the true meaning and

difference of power and principle when using anger. Since anger would be another form of

breaking the silence theory in black women, it is unique in its ways of words to liberate.

As Lorde states, how ‘anger is a response to racism’ 4, an example such as Michelle

Obama in her 2008 commencement statement “Folks had all sorts of questions of me… but as

potentially the first African American First Lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions

and speculations, conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others. Was

I too loud, too angry, too emasculating?” as relating to the stereotype of a black woman in

2 Lorde, Audre. "Sister outsider. Freedom." (1984): 53-9.

3 Ibid., 127
4 Ibid., 124
culture. As someone being a political figure, worries and fear of the attachment of racist belief

such as being an angry black and vulgar woman surround her. This is a key element when

thinking of feminist theory, as it builds on this social structure of race and culture but also

stereotyping the gender by race and culture because the boundaries of privilege, power, and

oppression comes with race as well as who it’s coming from (police, government, white culture,

politicians, etc.)

Examining the black feminist theory, the indication of rights and power coming from a

political view, is always seen as a race issue. Black women are even underneath their very own,

the black man. “In order to redeem the race, we have to redeem the black manhood” 5 as Bell

Hooks states in Talking Back, she discusses the reason for women of all races sticking together

against the sexism. However, many of the black women feel like “feminism” doesn’t include the

black race, and how it’s a “lesbian and white woman group” 6. She also talks of how the

Combahee River statement’s aim was to incorporate the end of oppression and that “black

women acknowledge the need for forms of separatism.” 7. Black women’s unwillingness to

accept feminism, isn’t due to just not understanding or associating with white women, but

wanting to disassociate from the racist, classist, and sexist white women and men. This is the

leading cause for black feminism.

When we consider the way feminism theory and politics has applied to black women in

history, we look at the writers and theorists like Bell Hooks, who has experience some form of

child abuse or Angela Davis, who has been accused of murder. Women like Assata Shakur, who

has been charged with terrorism in 1977and was included in the FBI most wanted terrorist list

5
Hooks, Bell. Talking back: Thinking feminist, thinking black. South End Press, 1989.; 178
6
Ibid., 180
7
Ibid, 180
recently. Her autobiography discusses the obstacles through her childhood and being in prison

while being a black woman. As the discourse of her life, show the timeline of oppression,

privilege, resistance and social transformation in her lifetime. The oppression of black women in

prison, can also be a form of silencing and power of internalization as it shows in Assata’s case.

Her childhood of racism and having changed beliefs throughout her young adult life about the

ways white culture treated her and others, shows the same systems repeating itself from her

childhood, proving how the justice system is still against African American men and women.

The Combahee River Collective Statement executes all the social theory in feminism,

about race, gender, class and intersectionality while examining the racism, economics and

politics. The purpose of the collective statement was on the birth of black feminism and black

women liberation. Analyzing the oppression also on sexuality of the black woman, they aimed to

show the dichotomy of fighting with the black man against racism 8, however fighting against the

black men against sexism, in regards of black women having a voice and not being silenced by

the superior race or their own. This piece is important and essential to black feminism, as it is

the development for identity of self for black women. The liberation of black women entitles

more than the silencing issues on race and oppression, as the members of the Combahee River

Collective, they argued for freedom for all people and putting an end to the racism, sexism and

class oppression while including the practice of lesbian separatism on a sexist oppression

approach.

Black feminism, of course, consists of black women, however not all black women are

generally accepting to the idea of a black woman’s feminist groups or theory. As stated before,

feminism was considered a group of ‘lesbians and white women theorist’. When feminist theory

8
Collective, Combahee River. 'A Black Feminist Statement'. na, 1977., 5
crosses into the boundaries of practice in black feminism or in feminism generally, it consists of

analyzing gender, power relations, oppression structures and the feminist language. In feminism

language pertaining to how black women, ideally feel an attachment to empowering words such

as “womanist” rather than feminism. This shows the relation with negativity in the terminology.

A womanist, according to Hooks, is put to a high value due to sex and gender, while many black

women see feminism shaped by white woman and constituted by them.

In the questioning of opposing black women to feminism, Hooks quotes Radford-Hill on

the ‘crisis of black womanhood’ 9, as a serious issue and should go under feminist transformation

as knowledge who it includes for the community and society. As I agree with Radford-Hill

criticizing the black womanhood always opposing to womanhood itself. Black women never

seem to want to stick together in the crisis of their bodies, lives, and freedom being at risk of

men and the capital. The black womanhood is a close representation of how Hooks explains

silencing of ‘holding their tongues’10 because that’s what they were taught from young girls.

When issues face black women, whether it’s racism or not, the power of silence shows how

black women have no place to speak in politics, freedom, government, etc., giving the rise or

black feminism as it was the platform for liberation.

In closing, the debate of black women inclusiveness to feminism, is that they are the true

women who live what feminism aims for. As black women feel free and choose not to be with a

group of women fighting for the equality rights, women of color are the representation of the true

meaning of unequal rights. As we get further with the expansion of feminism, the political

demands of women will only get tougher depending on the government officials in office, as

9
Hooks, Bell. Talking back: Thinking feminist, thinking black. South End Press, 1989.; 182
10
Ibid., 181
they are currently in control of most women’s health care, education and finances. Feminism is

general is the fight for what’s ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, because women in general are seen

underneath the man regardless of sexual orientation. However, the black woman is underneath

the white population and the black man. Throughout the decades of black feminism projecting

liberation, there has been a start for the country to realize social issues. However, not much has

transformed. The question that comes to mind, is whether we are practicing the theories of

women sticking together, or are we still living with racism, sexism, classism and sexuality issues

that are even worse than before.