Give Up the Mic: Black Feminism in the United States

3 units

It is a mistaken, but widely held assumption that Black feminism in the United States emerged from the second wave women's movement of the 1960s. This course offers a different view: the black feminist movement has a long history with roots in the slavery era. This course will chart the historical evolution of black feminist theory and praxis from the 19th century to the present through reading texts from a variety of black feminists including abolitionists, anti-lynching advocates, clubwomen, blues artists, unionists, communists, civil rights and black power movement activists, poets, leaders of formal feminist organizations, and hip hop feminists. We will examine essays and books that articulate the complexity of black American women's demand for social, economic and political equality, as well as the desire for a vision of liberation based on historical and ongoing struggles against race and gender oppression. We will identify the central concerns of black feminist thought, salient theoretical models such as the intersection of race, gender, sexuality and class, and how the movement changed over time.