Finally, Black Feminism Highlights The Unique Experiences

“I am a black feminist… I recognize that my power as well as my primary obsessions come as a result of my blackness as well as my womaness, and therefore my struggles on both of these fronts are inseparable” … As a woman of color, I find that some feminists don’t seem terribly concerned with the issues unique to women of color—the ongoing effects of racism and post-colonialism, the status of women in the Third World, working against the trenchant archetypes black women are forced into (angry black woman, mammy, hottentot, and the like). (Gay 173).

The women’s suffrage movement finally came to a pause during the Civil War period. Right around two years after the war ended, the movement leaders directed their focus to the Midwest. In 1867, Kansas became the first state in the United States to hold a public referendum on women’s suffrage. A gathering of issues relevant to the nineteenth-century came along where women were presented at this meeting, but suffrage in regards to the right of voting immediately became the base of the women 's suffrage movement. When the U.S. Constitution that was formed in 1920 where the 19th Amendment was established; American women secured one of the most important, valuable rights of citizenship in regard to the right to vote. This particular amendment embodied a significant milestone in the larger and a continuous struggle to ensure equal rights for women.

Black feminist is about sexism, class, gender and racism. It has various group by addressing role of black women like gay, lesbian etc. Black Feminist theory has reached a woider in 2010 as the result of social media. Black feminist argue that black women has different way to get power then white women. Against patriarchy. Black women has struggle radical redistribution of social wealth and political power. Women’s life-worlds and lived-experiences on women-centered are opposite from man. “Women’s Liberation Movement” it discussed about class, gender and feminist.

During the late 1700s, women were not seen as being equal to men. They were imaged as one who stayed at home and took care of the kids. No one ever imagined a woman voting. Some women actually supported the fight in allowing blacks to vote. During the time the 15th amendment passed, many women who supported Women’s Suffrage were disappointed in which they were excluded in the idea of allowing “everyone” to vote. Before the Civil War, the movement for Women’s Suffrage started to pick up steam, but had become lost due to the interruption of the Civil War. One of the acts that stood out the most for Women’s Suffrage was the Seneca Falls Conference in 1848. This was organized by two American activists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. They were the first to organize a conference to address Women’s rights and issues, and with sixty- eight women and thirty two men, they signed “The Declaration of Sentiments”, a document that was similar to the Declaration of Independence, but directed towards women’s rights. Getting suffrage for women was not an easy campaign. During 1890- 1919, many states were in a mix on their decision on suffrage for women. Some agreed with equal suffrage, others partial, and the rest wanted no suffrage at all for females as displayed in Document 6. Women’s Suffrage finally became a reality when it was ratified as an amendment (19th) in

Black women experience itself overtime have had an intersecting patterns of racism and sexism. African American women are not viewed as victims. Numbers are disproportionate purposely to not show them being objectified. The harassment of the black woman is not publicized to be a serious issue. This problem being hidden is not being identified by other social movements, feminist or

If you ladies are adamant about feminism, realize that Black women have our own movements, such as Womanism(Alice Walker) Africana Womanism (Cleonora Hudson-Weems). Even when it comes to feminism, we were very active, as a matter fact we invented the feminist movement. Coretta Scott King not only helped with the Civil Rights Movement she was also active in the feminist movement. There is Black feminism that addresses sexism, racism, class. Some great black feminist are bell hooks, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith were among the few. There were organizations like the Combahee River Collective and NBFO. However, I understand as Black women, we always felt we must pick one over the other that is a struggle that the women faced during the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Right Movement. Many people always tend to avoid this, but sexism was

In an attempt to define Black Feminism, Collins clarifies that it must “avoid the idealist position that ideas can be evaluated in isolation from the groups that create them (Collins 385).” In reality, this forms her basis for why Black Feminism is necessary, and who it serves. Thinking about feminism historically, the concerns of black women were pushed aside in favor of fighting sexism, most notably during the Suffrage movement. And even when feminism began looking at other social injustices, such as racism and class issues, only prominent feminists were invited to the discussion. What resulted was, and often continues to be, a problem of white women speaking for oppressed people. It’s impossible, Collins argues, to have Black Feminist thought without examining the experiences and positions of African American women. Therefore, Black Feminism must be a movement that “encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality by those who live in it (Collins 386).” However, such a definition brings about many questions: who’s experiences are valued, how do black women take their voice back, and how can they center feminist thinking on their own unique standpoint?

Part II: Core Themes in Black Feminist Thought tackles five themes: 1) a legacy of struggle, 2) treatment of the interlocking nature of race, class, and gender, 3)

The timeline of women’s suffrage is a one that spans from 1848 to 1920. The women’s rights movement in the United States started in the year 1848 with the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York. During this convention the ‘Declaration of sentiments’ was signed by 68 women who agreed that women deserved their own political identities. This document set forward the agenda for the women’s rights movement. In the year 1869, Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Women’s suffrage Association which demanded that the 15th amendment be changed to include women right to vote. In the year 1890, The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merged to form National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Colorado was the first state to grant women the right to vote in the year 1893, followed by Utah, Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, Alaska, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New York, Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma. The National Association of Colored Women was formed in the year 1896 to promote the civil rights of colored women. The National Women’s Trade Union League was established in the year 1903 in order to improve the working condition for women and also to bring their wages in par with that of men.

In an attempt to define Black Feminism, Collins clarifies that it must “avoid the idealist position that ideas can be evaluated in isolation from the groups that create them (Collins 385).” This clarification forms her basis for why Black Feminism is necessary, and who it serves. Thinking about feminism historically, the concerns of black women were pushed aside in favor of fighting sexism; a notable example occurs within the Suffrage movement, where votes for white women were prioritized over women of color in order to push such legislation through. And even when feminism began looking at other social injustices, such as racism and class issues, often only prominent feminists were invited to the discussion. What resulted was, and often continues to be, a problem of white women speaking for oppressed people. It’s impossible, Collins argues, to have Black Feminist thought without examining the experiences and positions of African American women. Therefore, Black Feminism must be a movement that “encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality by those who live in it (Collins 386).” However, such a definition brings about many questions:

For the longest time, women’s role in society was very narrow and set in stone. Women weren’t given the chance to decide life for their own, and there was a very sharp distinction of gender roles. Women were viewed as inferior, weak, and dependant. They were expected to be responsible for the family and maintainance of the house. But as the 19th century began, so did a drastic change in society. Women started voicing their opinions and seeking change. Trying to break away from this ideology called “cult of domesticity” was a lengthy, burdensome, and demanding struggle.

These groups were very different, even though they sought out for the same purpose, the purpose of equality. This was very perpetuating due to the fact that many people seek for the same things, yet in very different ways. Then feminist movement even though was very similar to the Black feminist movement, they tended to have a lack of collaboration between the two. The women feminist movement did reflect greatly on the black feminist movement, but they weren’t accepting

Women’s suffrage in the United States began in the nineteenth century and continued into the twentieth century until the nineteenth amendment was passed in 1920 to give women the right to vote. Women’s rights activists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony protested the fifteenth amendment that was passed in 1869 because the amendment unfairly did not include women. While Anthony and Stanton protested this proposed amendment other activists such as Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe fought against the women’s suffrage movement by saying that if African-Americans got their right to vote women would gain theirs soon after. The conflict that arose from the two sides butting heads gave way to the formation of two organizations, the National Women’s Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. The National Women’s Suffrage Association fought for women’s right to vote at a federal level, they also fought for married women to have the same rights as their husbands in regards to property. The American Woman Suffrage Association took a slightly different approach by attempting to get women the right to vote through much simpler means of the state legislature. The women involved in these movements finally got their day in Washington on January 12, 1915 as a women’s suffrage bill was brought before the House of Representatives but

Black Power and second-wave feminism rose in prominence around the same time (Van Gosse, 20). The influence of Black Power's push for black consciousness is seen in second-wave feminism through what they referred as "consciousness-raising" (154). In the document from 1970, "Outline for Consciousness-Raising", asserts how women can politicize their lived experiences and relate it to feminist theory to understand the ways in which they are marginalized in society. Radical feminists focused on the process and barriers to this discussion. Two components

I don't think I quite remember when I started to identify as a black feminist. There was never that moment of clarity because to me black women are equal to everyone, we deserve to be recognized and celebrated just like everyone else. This movement was founded on the historical disadvantage of women. Black feminism to be specific is the desire for equal access to opportunities for females, not systemic racism, sexism, mass incarceration etc. People get so hung up on the word but fail to realize that feminism fights for gender equality in a culture that has historically devalued women. Feminism isn't about making women stronger, we're already strong. It's about society acknowledging that strength and treating us as equals. What everyone fails