Black Feminist Movement
In my experience, there are not many Black radical feminists. The strong independent black woman syndrome we see now is not a product of feminist doctrine, and more a survival technique as a result of the devastation of the “community” aspect of the black community in the post civil-rights era.
As a matter of fact if you read the stories of the late Dorothy I Height, Ida B Wells and some of the work of Angela Davis, you will find that most black female activist choose to fore go strongly participating on the women’s liberation movement in favor of supporting the Black community’s effort for civil rights in spite of the fact that the Black male leaders did not always honor and respect the women in the movement.
The formal split in the feminist and civil rights movement came about the time women got the vote in 1920 (I think it was 1920) although many times we (black women) were prohibited from suffragist and early feminist activities b/c many white women were also staunch racists. It should be noted that the choice to give women the vote was partly to keep Black people disenfranchised. Prior to that the suffragist worked along side the abolitionists. I won’t get started on this Divide and conquer strategy that was used then to separate women and blacks and is being used now to separate black men and women and blacks from other minority groups (like the Latino community).
Something to point out is that the major contributions of many black women have been omitted from the public history of the movement due to the (how should I put it) predominantly chauvinistic nature of our society. Angela Davis talks about the misogynistic and often abusive experience many black women suffered in the mist of the Black Panthers and other pro-black organizations. I think her book Women, Race, & Class spoke to this and if not that book some of her other work (I read and wrote on this in college so forgive me I don’t have the details straight).
Feminism has its issues, however; the problems in our community come from Black Men and Women not being committed to each other. Black women have sucked it up for centuries only be to be blasted now for adapting to WHATEVER life has thrown at us. I wholeheartedly agree that we could use a little (well a lot) of softening, but please respect the fact that we have never faltered in our commitment to our community, families, and children in spite of slavery, rape, attacks on our womanhood, morality, and character, the killing of our sons, and abandonment by our husbands and fathers (over 60% of black children being raised by single mothers is a fact). It saddens me when I hear us criticized for becoming how we are not to survive in spite of all the attempts to break our spirit (read “Ain’t I a Woman by Sojourner Truth).
I want to hear Black men say” I acknowledge you for your strength, commitment, and tenacity and am here to take the burden from your shoulders so that you can relax and just be. I acknowledge that my brothers and I were systematically separated from you and our community. I know and appreciate that you have not given up on us even when many of us ran from you AND our responsibilities. I am committed that you feel respected, supported, safe and fulfilled in our relationships. I love, honor, and cherish you and pledge to stay by your side as you now learn how to be a soft, feminine woman again as I learn to be a strong, masculine man. Let us build a strong community together and never let anyone or anything tear us apart again”
*steps off soapbox*
