Black Feminist Movement Essay

Black Feminism in The 1970’s:
Addressing Issues in the African American Female Community The Black Feminist Movement was a historical event that elevated the voices of oppressed African American women. The Black Feminist Movement came about in the 1960’s and 1970’s as a result of racial and sexual oppression towards African American women. At the time, there were many issues regarding gender and racial equality. Sexual oppression in the form of rape was also an issue. In return, there many movements that wanted to bring about change and address these issues such as the Black Panthers, Civil Rights movement, Women's movement etc. However, there were still conflicts within these movements. Most African American women felt racially and sexually
oppressed by members of the black liberation and women’s movements. Although the purpose of the women’s movement was to address gender equality; African American women felt as though the movement did not cover the experiences and issues relating to the women of the African American community. The women’s movement covered more ground on the challenges that white women faced. Also the women’s movement often excluded African American women from having their own vocal platform. The Civil Rights movement emphasized that African American women were to only play the “role” of a female and not intervene in the men’s duties in regards to the Civil Rights movement. Most of them women involved in the Civil Rights movement did not receive much credit. Tired of being put on the sidelines, women of the African American community rose up to create a new movement called the Black Feminist movement. There were many black feminists that joined this newfound movement. Their goal was to address and bring about change for African American women. Remarkably, many of the black feminists voiced issues through writings such as poetry, essays and speeches. Not only was this method effective in getting messages across, but it also demonstrated that African American women’s capabilities to express political and social issues. It also showed the women’s ability to use creative styles to grab their intended audience’s attention. June Jordan and Audre Lorde were two out of the many influential black feminists of the 1960’s and 1970’s whom focused on the big issues of that era. Together, Jordan and Lorde’s writings contributed to the Black Feminist Movement. Both writers use their writings to strongly emphasize the controversial issues of the 1960’s and 1970’s era. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, gender and racial inequality was at an all time high. Women were often associated with gender roles. It was looked down on for women to speak up on political and social issues. African American women specifically were moreso sexually oppressed within their own black liberation movements. Although, the Civil Rights movement was a movement whose aim was to gain equal rights for African Americans; African American women often did not have the opportunity to participate and take on leadership positions. Because of their gender, African American women were sexually oppressed in their own community. In response, according to Sharon Barnes (2010), the Black Feminist Movement wanted to “lend a strong political voice to the already established women's movement and to influence the black liberation movement that the other half of the African American race also needed to be uplifted”(Barnes, 2010, para 9.). Many of the male dominant black liberation movements focused on African American male discourses rather than African American women’s. They also did not give much credit towards African American women for the work that they did behind the scenes. Hence, African American women did not want separation or a revolt, but only for the leaders of their community to support them and acknowledge the challenges that they faced. June Jordan, a notable black feminist, understood the many issues with sexual oppression. In her poem Poem About My Rights, she highlights one of the issues. In Poem About My Rights, Jordan captures the controversial problem with rape, saying: I have been wrong the wrong sex the wrong age the wrong skin the wrong nose the wrong hair the wrong need the wrong dream the wrong geographic the wrong sartorial
I have been the meaning of rape
I have been the problem everyone seeks to eliminate by forced (Jordan, 2004, p. 2020 & 2021). In this part of Jordan’s poem, she identifies with rape victims of the African American community. From the time of slavery and even into the 1960’s and 70’s, African American women are depicted as sexual objects. The problem is that because they are woman of color, they are looked at as easy targets for rape. Since racism was still on the rise in this era, African Americans were seen as a problem that needed to be resolved, hence why Jordan said, “I have been the problem everyone seeks to eliminate by force” (Jordan, 2004, p. 2020 & 2021 ). She is emphasizing with African American women and voicing that they are victims of rape, having something of theirs forcibly taken from them. In her poem, she also addresses that, in France they say if the guy penetrates but does not ejaculate then he did not rape me and if after stabbing him if after screams if after begging the bastard and if even after smashing a hammer to his head if even after that if he and his buddies fuck me after that then I consented and there was no rape because finally you understand finally they fucked me over because I was wrong I was wrong again to be me being me where I was/wrong to be who I am (Jordan, 2004, p. 2019). Jordan addresses how in most cases, the rape victim is blamed for the rape. She is blamed for being a female. More importantly, she is wrong because she is an African American female at the wrong place so it makes rape okay in the eyes of the system. Black feminist scholar, Patricia Hill Collins (2000) notes that, “violence against Black women tends to be legitimated and therefore condoned while the same acts visited on other groups may remain non legitimated and non-excusable” (Collins, p. 146). The justice system allows for it rape to pardoned as if it is a routinized practice that happens to women of color. Barely taking protocol, the system leaves the victim to believe it is her fault. Even after resisting and yelling stop, it was sadly considered consent. And because of the fear of rape, women cannot ever just go off where they feel like.
Jordan’s Poem About My Rights also addresses the political issues of that era. According to Joyce Pettis (2010), Jordan’s work was “shaped by her political activism, her intimacy with the African American community's experience, her humanitarian spirit, and her commitment to truth” ( Pettis, p. 1). Jordan was always in tune with political issues that were happening all over the world. In her poem, Poem of My Rights, she demonstrates her awareness in the following lines:
I am very familiar with the problems of the C.I.A. and the problems of South Africa and the problems of Exxon Corporation and the problems of white
America in general and the problems of the teachers and the preachers and the F.B.I. and the social workers and my particular Mom and Dad/I am very familiar with the problems because the problems turn out to be me (Jordan, 2004, p. 2020)
In Jordan’s collection of works, her poems and essays would highlight not only the experiences of the African American women in the American society, but for women of color in worldwide places where they were oppressed.
When she says “the problems turn out to be me”, she is not singling herself out, but she is implying that women of color are the so called problem. She also addressing the many issues within certain aspects of society from the church to the family unit. In this time period of oppression, it was a significant milestone for a black women to speak on political issues, simply because it was common for black women to be “discouraged from analyzing and speaking out about a host of topics” (Collins, 2000, p. 124). Fear was instilled into women of color for speaking out against topics such as sexuality, politics, politics, rape etc. Also, if black men felt like their superiority was being challenged, they would belittle black women. Being an insightful leader of that time period, “Jordan wrote and spoke out on every major political battle of the past half century—from apartheid and the U.S.-sponsored war in Nicaragua to the Harlem riots, gay rights, nuclear proliferation, and Rodney King” (Finn, 2003, p. 1 ). She was a voice for communities worldwide and a woman with the spirit of justice and truth. Her works applied greatly to the Black Feminist Movement. Jordan’s were committed to establishing political justice and being a voice for the
oppressed.
Another important Black Feminist who addressed forms of oppression, was Audre Lorde. Audre Lorde was a black feminist and poet who used her writings to challenge the many injustices towards the oppressed. In her poem, Poetry is Not a Luxury, Lorde makes it evident that she is aware of the fear that is grounded in the African American woman community. However, Lorde proposes an answer to the issue; poetry. For Lorde, she believes that, “Poetry coins the language to express and charter this revolutionary awareness and demand, the implementation of that freedom” (Lorde, 2004, p. 1925). She is calling for women to use their creative talent as a voice for a call of change. If women fear speaking up, then they should use their power of poetry as an outlet of freedom to express. True to the poem’s title, poetry is not a luxury, but something that the women need to give them confidence and more importantly a voice.
Lorde also touched on women’s discrimination within the women’s movement. Prior to establishing the Black Feminist Movement, women of color were also members of the women’s movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. In Lorde’s essay, Age, Race, Class, and Sex, she highlights the issue that, “white women ignore their built-in privilege of whiteness and define woman in terms of their own experience alone” (Lorde, 2007, p. 117). Within the women’s movement, white feminists addressed the white women’s experience and not the black women’s. They had failed to recognize and separate the different challenges both groups faced. Black feminist Hazel Carby (1982), noted that it was important for white women to “examine the ways in which racism excludes many black women and prevents them from unconditionally aligning themselves with white women” (Carby, 1982, p. 19). While the women’s movement focused on equality such equal pay and education, they did not acknowledge the racism inequality that women of color faced. White women did not have to worry about the race, but women of color were not able to speak out on racism inequality.
In conclusion, Black Feminists such as June Jordan and Audre Lorde were very well aware of the controversial issues of the 1960’s and 70’s. Their writings not only depicted the experiences of oppressed women of color, but they also challenged women to find their voice. Many of the experiences women of color faced were in relation to sexual oppression and racial discrimination. June Jordan writings actively expressed both political injustices and sexual oppression. She was familiar with the broken justice system and the sexual assaults that women of color experienced. By serving as an active voice, Jordan’s writings challenged society’s label for women of color. Audre Lorde was also familiar with sexual oppression. In her works, she challenged women of color to make a voice for themselves and go against with what society says. She encouraged women to find the power that laid inside of them. Lorde was also familiar with discrimination in the black liberation and women’s movements. Left alone in the dark by their communities that were supposed to uplift them, African American women founded a new movement that would serve as a voice for oppressed women of color; The Black Feminist movement.