Black women who overcome sexism and racism develop liberatory strategies to share
Evidence
Contemporary black women could not join together to fight for women’s rights because we did not see “womanhood” as an important aspect of our identity. Racist, sexist socialization had conditioned us to devalue our femaleness and to regard race as the only relevant label of identification. In other words, we were asked to deny a part of ourselves—and we did. Consequently, when the women’s movement raised the issue of sexist oppression, we argued that sexism was insignificant in light of the harsher, more brutal reality of racism. We were afraid to acknowledge that sexism could be just as oppressive as racism. We clung to the hope that liberation from racial oppression would be all that was necessary for us to be free. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 24 (
#contradicts, via linked claim)
Gradually the radical revolutionary spirit that had characterized the intellectual and political contribution of black women in the 19th century was quelled. A definite change in the role played by black women in the political and social affairs of black people occurred in the 20th century. This change was indicative of an overall decline in the efforts of all American women to effect radical social reform. When the women’s rights movement ended in the twenties, the voices of black women liberationists were stilled. The war had stripped the movement of its earlier fervor. While black women participated equally with black men in the struggle for survival by entering the work force whenever possible, they did not advocate an end to sexism. Twentieth century black women had learned to accept sexism as natural, a given, a fact of life. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 29 (
#contradicts, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Twentieth-century black women learned to accept sexism as natural fact — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 29; Black women’s separatist organizing added gender consciousness to racial self-help — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 338; Racist, sexist socialization conditioned black women to devalue femaleness and identify only with race — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 24 (+11 more)
Broader Connections
- Black women’s silence on sexism stemmed from socialization that devalued their femaleness
#contradicts(0.88) - Racist, sexist socialization conditioned black women to devalue femaleness and identify only with race
#contradicts(0.85) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 24 - Twentieth-century black women learned to accept sexism as natural fact
#contradicts(0.82) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 29 - Sexism and racism were twin oppressive forces in black women’s slave experience
#corroborates(0.80) - Black women’s separatist organizing added gender consciousness to racial self-help
#exemplifies(0.78) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 338 - Negative stereotypes block Black women from developing positive self-concepts
#contradicts(0.78) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 246 - Black liberation requires fighting sexism as much as racism
#corroborates(0.76) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 347 - Black women faced pressure from both whites and blacks to separate racism from sexism
#qualifies(0.75) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 46 - Defensive interventions diverted black women from building black-centered feminist scholarship
#complicates(0.75) — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, 223 - Devaluation of black women was a deliberate method of social control
#complicates(0.74) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 191 - Elite Black women’s self-help efforts reproduced racist views of poor Black women
#complicates(0.73) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 727 - Black women experienced race through gender and gender through race simultaneously
#expands(0.72) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 559