We just wanted to see what we had. hTmO0+i%T/tEFCh)4U{Pl0Y%sXjbI-*FAb5LK k1iQ"oe##xIiIsNeQv~6_cq= 2J#VDsY. JSTOR, the JSTOR logo, and ITHAKA are registered trademarks of ITHAKA. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. Men are not equal to other men, i.e. Black womens extremely negative relationship to the American political system (a system of white male rule) has always been determined by our membership in two oppressed racial and sexual castes. Malcolm X made it plain: The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.. These were hardly doctrinaire disputes. In describing the distinct experiences of Black women who were lesbians, they pioneered what would eventually become known as intersectionalitythe idea that multiple identities can be constantly and simultaneously present within one persons body. After a period of months of not meeting, we began to meet again late in the year and started doing an intense variety of consciousness-raising. (There was no refuge in Boston at that time.) It was our experience and disillusionment within these liberation movements, as well as experience on the periphery of the white male left, that led to the need to develop a politics that was anti-racist, unlike those of white women, and anti-sexist, unlike those of Black and white men. As Black feminists and Lesbians we know that we have a very definite revolutionary task to perform and we are ready for the lifetime of work and struggle before us. Instead, I read it as a powerful intervention for the left as a whole. 2-3, Hypatia, Vol. We must also question whether Lesbian separatism is an adequate and progressive political analysis and strategy, even for those who practice it, since it so completely denies any but the sexual sources of womens oppression, negating the facts of class and race. Although we are in essential agreement with Marxs theory as it applied to the very specific economic relationships he analyzed, we know that his analysis must be extended further in order for us to understand our specific economic situation as Black women. Accusations that Black feminism divides the Black struggle are powerful deterrents to the growth of an autonomous Black womens movement. Demita Frazier had been a member of the Black Panther Party in Chicago, right up until the Chicago police helped to assassinate the Panther leader Fred Hampton, in 1969. When I was seven, I saw my father jump in to stop a group of white teen-agers from threatening my older brother, only to have the police blame him for the altercation. I myself have found the Combahee Statement more compelling than ever. One of our members did attend and despite the narrowness of the ideology that was promoted at that particular conference, we became more aware of the need for us to understand our own economic situation and to make our own economic analysis. But we do not have the misguided notion that it is their maleness, per sei.e., their biological malenessthat makes them what they are. Although we were not doing political work as a group, individuals continued their involvement in Lesbian politics, sterilization abuse and abortion rights work, Third World Womens International Womens Day activities, and support activity for the trials of Dr. Kenneth Edelin, Joan Little, and Inz Garca. Match. The sanctions In the Black and white communities against Black women thinkers is comparatively much higher than for white women, particularly ones from the educated middle and upper classes. You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link on any marketing message. 3/4, THE 1970s (FALL/WINTER 2015), pp. Although our economic position is still at the very bottom of the American capitalistic economy, a handful of us have been able to gain certain tools as a result of tokenism in education and employment which potentially enable us to more effectively fight our oppression. The Combahee River Collective was a Black Feminist Lesbian organization that was active between 1974 and 1980. After the C.R.C. During our first summer when membership had dropped off considerably, those of us remaining devoted serious discussion to the possibility of opening a refuge for battered women in a Black community. One issue that is of major concern to us and that we have begun to publicly address is racism in the white womens movement. It is a foundational document in Black feminism, whose impact continues to be seen and felt throughout US political life today. Even our Black womens style of talking/testifying in Black language about what we have experienced has a resonance that is both cultural and political. We must also question whether Lesbian separatism is an adequate and progressive political analysis and strategy, even for those who practice it, since it so completely denies any but the sexual sources of womens oppression, negating the facts of class and race. The "second wave" feminist movement fought for body . We will discuss four major topics in the paper that follows: (1) the genesis of contemporary Black feminism; (2) what we believe, i.e., the specific province of our politics; (3) the problems in organizing Black feminists, including a brief herstory of our collective; and (4) Black feminist issues and practice. But her caution also betrays the hope and deep desire for radical change that all revolutionaries harbor. Both are essential to the development of any life. 6, No. Vacations in the Soviet Union were hardly idylls spent with ones dearest. ability, experience or even understanding. connecting together (qui s'imbrique) manifold. 5, No. 2, Harriet Tubman: A Legacy of Resistance (2014), pp. The synthesis of these oppressions creates the conditions of our lives. Barbara Smith at a National Gay Rights March, 1993. In her introduction to Sisterhood is Powerful Robin Morgan writes: demanded politics that could account for all, and not just aspects of their identity. We are a collective of Black feminists who have been meeting together since 1974. 1/2 (2007), pp. If black women were free, everyone . 1-17, Negro History Bulletin, Vol. The C.R.C. The Combahee River Collective, a black feminist lesbian organization, released the Combahee River Collective Statement in 1978 to define and encourage black feminism. saw themselves as revolutionaries whose aspirations far exceeded womens rights: they aspired to the overthrow of capitalism. We decided at that time, with the addition of new members, to become a study group. Henrietta Lacks and the Debate Over the Ethics of Bio-Medical Research, African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. 113, No. During our years together as a Black feminist collective we have experienced success and defeat, joy and pain, victory and failure. We understand that it is and has been traditional that the man is the head of the house. mammy, matriarch, Sapphire, whore, bulldagger), let alone cataloguing the cruel, often murderous, treatment we receive, Indicates how little value has been placed upon our lives during four centuries of bondage in the Western hemisphere. This became the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO). They envisioned coalition politics on the basis of mutual solidarity, including a commitment to the struggles against sexism, heterosexism, racism, class oppression, exploitation, and imperialism. The sanctions In the Black and white communities against Black women thinkers is comparatively much higher than for white women, particularly ones from the educated middle and upper classes. In 2016, black activists founded The Movement of Black Lives to advocate for all black people more generally. But the civil-rights revolution and concerted efforts by the political establishment created a different reality for a small number of African-Americans. Privacy Policy Contact Us Our development must also be tied to the contemporary economic and political position of Black people. believed that another world was possible, one in which Black women, and thus all of humanity, were freed from systems of oppression and exploitation, as the result of a collective struggle that reached down to the roots of the problems we face. They disbanded in 1980 due to internal disagreements. In her introduction to Sisterhood is Powerful Robin Morgan writes: I havent the faintest notion what possible revolutionary role white heterosexual men could fulfill, since they are the very embodiment of reactionary-vested-interest-power. The value of men and women can be seen as in the value of gold and silverthey are not equal but both have great value. disbanded, in 1980, Barbara Smith went on to play a critical role in the establishment of womens studies in colleges and universities, as well as in publishing. Black feminist politics also have an obvious connection to movements for Black liberation, particularly those of the 1960s and I970s. 12, No. Men are not equal to other men, i.e. They stand in contrast to the Black poor and working class, who live in veritable police states, with low-wage work, poor health care, substandard and expensive housing, and an acute sense of insecurity. We exists as women who are Black who are feminists, each stranded for the moment, working independently because there is not yet an environment in this society remotely congenial to our strugglebecause, being on the bottom, we would have to do what no one else has done: we would have to fight the world. 1977 Both Truth and Combahee River Collective 's readings are interesting . A good portion of the tension was generated by wild and unfounded assertions that socialism and the spoils of social democracy were only of interest to white people. Learn. The inclusiveness of our politics makes us concerned with any situation that impinges upon the lives of women, Third World and working people. We were not being reductive, we were not being separatists, she said. Both of these articles talk about black women 's rights in the 19 th and 20 th centuries talking about topics of racism and sexism . Wallace is pessimistic but realistic in her assessment of Black feminists position, particularly in her allusion to the nearly classic isolation most of us face. The overwhelming feeling that we had is that after years and years we had finally found each other. We just wanted to see what we had. Issues and projects that collective members have actually worked on are sterilization abuse, abortion rights, battered women, rape and health care. [1] During that time we have been involved in the process of defining and clarifying our politics, while at the same time doing political work within our own group and in coalition with other progressive organizations and movements. we were told in the same breath to be quiet both for the sake of being ladylike and to make us less objectionable in the eyes of white people. We believe in collective process and a nonhierarchical distribution of power within our own group and in our vision of a revolutionary society. We might use our position at the bottom, however, to make a clear leap into revolutionary action. As we have already stated, we reject the stance of Lesbian separatism because it is not a viable political analysis or strategy for us. Photograph by Ellen Shub / Courtesy the Estate of Ellen Shub. The CRC made two key observations in their use of identity politics. Any concept, once it is released into the world, can take on new meanings when confronted with new problems. We reprint that version here in commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of its publication by Monthly Review Press. It is a foundational document in Black feminism, whose impact continues to be seen and felt . Your donation is fully tax-deductible. We are socialists because we believe that work must be organized for the collective benefit of those who do the work and create the products, and not for the profit of the bosses. 20072023 Blackpast.org. The psychological toll of being a Black woman and the difficulties this presents in reaching political consciousness and doing political work can never be underestimated. There are no maps or predetermined paths that guarantee the success or failure of a movement. 4-5. All rights reserved. We had always shared our reading with each other, and some of us had written papers on Black feminism for group discussion a few months before this decision was made. Their centering of Black women was not an exclusion of others with . Test. We might, for example, become involved in workplace organizing at a factory that employs Third World women or picket a hospital that is cutting back on already inadequate heath care to a Third World community, or set up a rape crisis center in a Black neighborhood. And every Black woman who came, came out of a strongly-felt need for some level of possibility that did not previously exist in her life. Reading the statement for the first time, two things struck me. Rumors that enslaved Black New Yorkers were planning a revolt spread across Manhattan even more quickly than fires for which they were being blamed. Those were fine things to act against and struggle for, but they felt like lightweight politics in contrast to the things that my nineteen-year-old self was concerned about: the U.S. presence in the Middle East, police brutality and racism, poverty and inequality. Demonstrations following the murder of Floyd enter their third week. When I reached college, in the nineties, these same debates could be found animating womens-studies classes. Respond to the following prompts in 300+ words (total), with reference to the Module 2 texts: Both "Ain't I a Woman?" and "A Black Feminist Statement: The Combahee River Collective" make statements in response to exclusionary aspects of feminist activism in the 19th and 20th centuries respectively. [3] They are perhaps best known for developing the Combahee River Collective Statement, [4] a key . [2] Wallace, Michele. We have spent a great deal of energy delving into the cultural and experiential nature of our oppression out of necessity because none of these matters has ever been looked at before. This focusing upon our own oppression is embodied in the concept of identity politics. Our development must also be tied to the contemporary economic and political position of Black people. There have always been Black women activistssome known, like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frances E. W. Harper, Ida B. The psychological toll of being a Black woman and the difficulties this presents in reaching political consciousness and doing political work can never be underestimated. However, we had no way of conceptualizing what was so apparent to us, what we knew was really happening. In 2016, as the fortieth anniversary of the Combahee Statement approached, I realized that it would be an opportunity to draw attention back to the document and its astounding prescience and analysis, and to complicate a stilted and unsatisfying national discussion about who the real inheritors were of socialist politics in the United States. As BIack women we find any type of biological determinism a particularly dangerous and reactionary basis upon which to build a politic. Equality of men and women is something that cannot happen even in the abstract world. As always, links to the underlying scholarship are free to all readers. [3] They are perhaps best known for developing the Combahee River Collective Statement,[4] a key document in the history of contemporary Black feminism and the development of the concepts of identity as used among political organizers and social theorists.[5][6]. Ad Choices. gave us the political tools to understand the difference between bottom-up and top-down politics, and their distorted manifestation in the identity politics of today. Three of her brothers followed her to Dallas, and one, a Vietnam veteran, lived in our garage for a time, as he tried to jump-start his life. 1-32, The Journal of African American History, Vol. We discovered that all of us, because we were smart had also been considered ugly, i.e., smart-ugly. Smart-ugly crystallized the way in which most of us had been forced to develop our intellects at great cost to our social lives. 4, No. We can obviously create a politics that is absolutely aligned with our own experiences as Black womenin other words, with our identities. This focusing upon our own oppression is embodied in the concept of identity politics. The women of the C.R.C. To clarify, the woman said she was as much in solidarity with the women who cleaned her home as she was with white middle-class women like herself, who had also been trained to lower their horizons and expect less out of life. Wells Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell, and thousands upon thousands unknownwho have had a shared awareness of how their sexual identity combined with their racial identity to make their whole life situation and the focus of their political struggles unique. Our politics evolve from a healthy love for ourselves, our sisters and our community which allows us to continue our struggle and work. Barbara Smith and the Black feminist visionaries of the Combahee River Collective. Although we are feminists and Lesbians, we feel solidarity with progressive Black men and do not advocate the fractionalization that white women who are separatists demand. Merely naming the pejorative stereotypes attributed to Black women (e.g. Before looking at the recent development of Black feminism we would like to affirm that we find our origins in the historical reality of Afro-American womens continuous life-and-death struggle for survival and liberation. The Black women of the C.R.C. Help us keep publishing stories that provide scholarly context to the news. 85, No. Thats right out of the Black feminist playbook.. Material resources must be equally distributed among those who create these resources. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. 2 (February/March, 1975), pp. In A Black Feminists Search for Sisterhood, Michele Wallace arrives at this conclusion: We exists as women who are Black who are feminists, each stranded for the moment, working independently because there is not yet an environment in this society remotely congenial to our strugglebecause, being on the bottom, we would have to do what no one else has done: we would have to fight the world. Tessa_Nunn. The C.R.C. I had to put it away. "A Black Feminist Statement" by the Combahee, Feminist Theory, the body and the Disabled Fi. We believe in collective process and a nonhierarchical distribution of power within our own group and in our vision of a revolutionary society. The first was its effort to combine socialist politics with feminism. Theoretically rich and strategically nimble, it imagined a course of politics that could take Black women from the margins of society to the center of a revolution. JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. During our time together we have identified and worked on many issues of particular relevance to Black women. We are not convinced, however, that a socialist revolution that is not also a feminist and anti-racist revolution will guarantee our liberation. To be recognized as human, levelly human, is enough., I recently spoke with Barbara Smith, who made clear that identity politics was not intended to be exclusionary or to contend that only those who suffered a particular oppression could fight against it or even comment on it. Since 1977, that term has been used, abused, and reconfigured into something foreign to its creators. saw themselves as socialists and as part of the broader left, but they understood that no mass movement for socialism could be organized without responding to the particular forms of oppression experienced by Black women, Chicana women, lesbians, single mothers, and so many other groups. They fared no better in organizations led by white women, who, for the most part, could not understand how racism compounded the experiences of Black women, creating a new dimension of oppression. Will it turn into something more lasting than a frustrated outburst from those at the bottom?
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