16 Race, Black Feminism and Women of Colour

Arpita Giri

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Incorporation of Race in Feminism: Theoretical Development

1.3 Emergence and Growth of Black feminism

1.4 Key thoughts of Black feminism

1.5 Towards a women of colour movement

1.6 Criticism and Contribution

1.  Introduction

Race is a socially constructed category, though not completely. As a social construct, Race can be defined as group of people who share similar and distinct physical characteristics. In a society, on the basis of race which is constructed through cultural and social interactions, different groups assume role of dominant and minority group. A group may be classified as a minority on the basis of ethnicity, race, sexual preference, age, or class status. Thus, a minority group is not necessarily the minority in terms of numbers, but it is a group that holds low status in relation to other groups in society. A group which enjoy power over the minorities and hold important social, political, economic power is recognized as dominant group.

Race based discrimination and oppression of people of minority group has existed in society. Here it is important to note that the minority group within itself is not homogeneous. Race often intersects with other sources of oppression like sex, sexuality, nationality, class etc. and influences the process. A gender analysis of racial discrimination recognizes that racial discrimination does not affect men and women equally, or in the same way. Women belonging to particular racial or ethnic group may face dual or multiple forms of discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, social class, caste, age and sexual orientation. But for the larger part of its history movement against Racism and Sexism did not give adequate space to the experiences of women who have to face double or multiple oppression because of their gender and racial identity. The discourse on racism gives primacy to race as a form of oppression and the discourse on women‘s liberation movement see gender as the common oppression faced by women.

Both the movements ignored the intersectional and multiple oppressions faced by women across societies. In the later part of the twentieth century, role of gender as a common form of oppression was challenged by the Black feminists and the feminists from the Third World. Among them Black women movement within United States and to an extent in other western countries has made significant contribution. They started the debate which widened to other women of color groups also.

1.2 Incorporation of Race in Feminism: Theoretical Development

In the recent times term feminism has been used to denote all kinds of women movement and academic discourse demanding equality for women across all spheres. The development and growth of feminism can be divided into three waves. Initially the term was linked to women’s demand for suffrage in the United States and United Kingdom in mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century in what is now called “First Wave” feminism. The “First Wave” was led by middle class white women from US and UK who were focused mainly on political rights. Their idea was that all human being are equal under the sun, thus, none should be denied opportunity to compete on equal footing. This idea had its root in Liberal Movement of Nineteenth Century. The liberal argument was that a just society is one which allows individuals to exercise their autonomy and to fulfill themselves. To achieve their goal, feminists of this phase laid emphasis on getting political rights, which was seen as precursor to other demands like right to education, property, work etc.

This was followed by incorporation of demand for social and cultural rights for women along with political rights in the feminist movement. This phase which lasted from mid twentieth century to later half of twentieth century is called “Second Wave” Feminism. The “Second Wave” widened scope of feminism and critically looked at the differences between sex and gender. They adopted the concept of gender to define the social construction of masculinity and femininity. It differentiates between sex as physical attribute that define people as male and female from the socio-cultural meaning assigned to them such as masculinity and femininity. It challenged the notion that “biology is destiny”. They were looking for formation of movement with all women under single banner to fight the common oppressor i.e. patriarchal system. Due to their set of demands the feminists of this phase were considered radical feminists. Socialist feminists in this phase considered class and patriarchy as the reason for oppression of women. The leadership of the movement in this phase also remained enshrined with white, middle class, heterosexual women.

Last phase or the “Third Wave Feminism ” is the movement from 1980s onwards which focused on the failure of “Second Wave” and widened the set of demands incorporating therein idea of equality for “others”. Others included women from different race, ethnic, religious and sexually oriented groups. In this phase, the concept of gender was challenged on the ground that it is insufficient to explain the experiences of large number of women from different socio-cultural context. The universal notion of the feminist movement was challenged as it left large number of women from its ambit. It had placed every women under same umbrella without giving due recognition to the differences. With advent of post- modernism and post-structuralism, it was argued that gender is not stable category but temporary, fluid and shifting. The meaning attached to gender were not universal, rather they were specific and were derived from particular social context. Every society and culture understands and represents gender identities in particular ways.

It was described as socio-structural phenomenon which is produced, negotiated and sustained in everyday interaction with interception of other inequalities such as race, class, ethnicity and sexuality. For these scholars “sex is only one of the many distinctions that constructs gender but rejected the notion of “along with” or “alongside” race, class, nationality, ethnicity, or any other category”, in contrast “gender is constructed through and by these distinctions”.1The ongoing debate among feminists about the root of women’s oppression provided space for understanding the inter-section of race and gender. Women from African and Asian origin living in western countries, especially in United States and United Kingdom, have played important role in sustaining this debate and making it more relevant.

1.3 Emergence and Growth of Black feminism

Black feminism as a concept tries to understand the inter-section of forms of oppression like race and gender. The premise of this is that experience of black women cannot be understood simply as a woman or simply as a black. The idea behind emergence of black feminism has been portrayed in A Black Feminist Statement: Combahee River Collective as,

We find our origin in the historical reality of Afro -American women’s continuous life and death struggle for survival and liberation. Black women’s extremely negative relationship to the American political system has always been determined y our membership in two oppressed racial and sexual castes.2

The movement of Black women has multiple roots and is embedded in historical context. The history of black feminism can be traced back to nineteenth century abolition movement in the United States. Abolition movement was primarily launched against slavery. Many black women along with black men, white women and white men stood against the exploitative status of slaves. Explaining the dual oppression of black women under the slavery, Angela Y Davis point out that,

But women suffered in different ways as well, for they were victims of sexual abuse and other barbarous mistreatment that could only be inflicted on women. Expediency governed the slave holders’ posture toward female slaves: when it was profitable to exploit them as if they were men, they were regarded, in effect, as genderless, but when they could be exploited, punished and repressed in ways suited only for women, they were locked into their exclusively female roles.3

Davis in her work further states that suffering of black women under slavery was equal to black men but less acknowledged and documented. Black women were considered socially equal within the slave community. They resisted and fought against the institution of slavery as vigorously as men on all fronts. During the time of slavery, there were black women activists like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frances E. W. Harper, Ida B. Wells Barnett, Mary Church Terrell etc. who raised voice against both patriarchy and racism. Black women activists of the nineteenth century laid the foundation for the later black women’s movement through their Coloured Women’s Club Movement (Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, among many others) . All this was seen as part of larger women’s movement (Suffrage Movement) and they were not able to maintain their unique identity, though they created thought process for the later black women’s movement.

Post 1970s, the emergence of black feminism is seen in response to the disappointment of black women who actively participated in the Black Liberation Movement (The Civil Rights Movement, Black Nationalism, Black Panther etc.) and Women’s Movement. But they were marginalized and discriminated in both these movements. They were not given due space and outcome also left them disappointed. The objective of Black liberation movements was liberation of black race as a whole. But, freedom was equated with manhood. It was considered that racial discrimination is more harmful to black men then women. Attempts were also made to control black women’s sexuality in order to form a unified black movement. Issues of women were forced on the back-burner to keep a unified stance demanding equal rights for black community. Summing up the experiences of Black Women within the Black Liberation Struggle, Gloria Joseph states that, Struggle was a way of life. In addition to racist struggles, Black women had to contend with the underlying macho philosophy of the Civil Rights/Black Power Movement. Being told to sit at home and to have babies for the revolution and not to become involved in political struggle did not have a place in organizations and groups serious about bringing an end to exploitation and oppression in the USA. This was not only theoretically unsound, it was even in direct contradiction to the reality of Black women’s lives, both historically and at present.

The women’s right movement also failed to take up the issues of black women. The ongoing women’s movement was similar to the earlier women’s movement. White feminists of the period accepted use of word women to refer only to white women, they didn’t challenge the racist-sexist tendency being attached to the term and rather supported its use. Capitalism was never denounced as a group by the white participants in the woman’s movement. They rather chose to define liberation in terms of white capitalist patriarchy, and equated liberation with gaining economic status and money power. For them work was key to liberation. Thus, they refused to “acknowledge the reality that, for masses of American working class women, working for pay neither liberated them from sexist oppression nor allowed them to gain any measure of economic independence.”

Black Women who participated in the feminist movement during the 1960s often met with racism. It generally took the form of exclusion: black women were not invited to participate on conference panels which were not specifically about black or Third World women. They were not equally, or even proportionately, represented on the faculty of Women’s Studies Departments, nor were there classes devoted specifically to the study of black women’s history. In most women’s movement writings, the experiences of white, middle class women were described as universal experiences, largely ignoring the differences of black and white women’s experiences due to race and class. In addition to this, well-known black women were often treated as tokens; their work was accepted as representing black experience and was rarely ever criticized or challenged. The lack of space in the black liberation movement and women’s movement forced black women to form their own movement. They felt the need of redefining and developing a framework to understand the oppression of women, which intersect with racism and sexism. lt 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 and anti sexist unlike those of white and Black Women. It has also emerged because of the growing need among black women understand and define their own sharing and growing consciousness. And a growing urge to change their lives and oppression.

The upheavals and disillusionment paved way for formation of distinct black feminist movement. It was created to intersect the challenges of racism and sexism. Idea was to form groups and develop ideas and concepts to create framework for taking up the cause of Black women as an unique entity. One of the first organizations to be formed by Black women was National Black Feminist Organization (1973). The purpose of NBFO was “to address … the particular and specific needs of the larger, but almost cast-aside half of the black race in America, the black woman.”6 Subsequently, Combahee River Collective emerged as Black lesbian feminist organization in Boston in 1977. They are known for Combahee River Collective Statement which is considered one of the most important documents regarding the Black women, their history, and the framework of their aspirations.

1.4 Key thoughts of Black feminism

The Black Feminist Scholars discarded simplistic and unified concepts of mainstream feminism. They have developed a body of work which addresses the failure of existing feminist theories. These new streams of ideas cover various realms which were considered unique to them. The key ideas of Black Feminism put Race / Racism in the centre of social relation as complicated by other social relation of domination. But it has become apparent that they cover “other” women also who were left out by mainstream feminists. Thus, post 1970s has shown spurt in growth of feminism movement in women of African, Asian and South American origin within western countries. These movements have also provided thought process and support to movements all over the globe.

Challenging single notion of womanhood

Thus, Black feminists challenged and rejected the single notion of womanhood which in rooted in the Western, Capitalist, Middle Class, Heterosexual, White identity of women. For instance, Sojourner Truth’s powerful statement at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851 was a 19th-century deconstruction of the notion of a global, common womanhood and an insistence on inserting black womanhood in the concept of what it meant to be a woman. She stated, That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lashes as well! Ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And aint’t woman?

The speech of Sojourner Truth is important in many ways. It was one of the first reflection of black feminism thought. It was not theorized at this stage. But it generated a thought process and challenged the widely accepted notion of woman and feminine qualities attached to them.

Critique of Mainstream Theories and Concepts

Many Black feminist theorist and activist like Sojourner Truth, Barbara Christian, Audre Lorde, Gloria Joseph, Toni Cade Bambara, Patricia Bell Scott, Barbara Smith, Gloria T. Hull, Beverley Guy-Sheftall, Paula Giddings, Michele Wallace, Stanlie James, Deborah King, Hazel Carby, Patricia Hill Collins, Angela Davis, Bell Hooks, Patricia King, Patricia Williams and many others from different disciplinary bases, interrogated existing feminist theories and found them lacking, as they found them either incapable or ignorant toward Black women’s specific experiences and oppression. They have challenged the simplistic explanation and concepts and tool developed by mainstream feminists to explain women’s oppression. In the process, Black feminist theory destabilizes the coherence and certainty with which certain concepts and constructs are regarded in the general body of feminist thought. For Example liberal, radical and socialist feminist theorist view home, family and patriarchal relation as a site for oppression of women. For example Betty Friedan, a liberal, in her book, The Feminine Mystique, states, “It is very urgent to understand how the very conditions of being a housewife can create a sense of emptiness, non-existence, nothingness in women”. Radical feminist emphasise on patriarchal relations beginning in the family and radiating outwards to civil society, the state and the economy.

Black feminists see home differently. This place may have gender oppression. But as it is place away from racial experiences, it emerges as a source of strength. Angela Y Davis states that contrary to the white feminist view of the family’s role in oppressing women, for the female slave the family was meaningful and emotionally supportive. 9 Later writings of women of colour also agree that family also served as a emotional buffer in a race biased society and created solidarity between men and women.

Inter-sectionality

To understand the lived experiences and lives of Black women, idea of inter-sectionality was developed. The concept of inter-sectionality understand the intersections between various forms or systems of oppression. Black feminist like Spelmen, Hooks, Crenshew, Collins, and King have criticized the ways various forms of oppression has been understood.

Deborah King rejected an additive approach to women’s oppression. An additive approach is based on two key premises. First is Dichotomous Thinking. Dichotomous thinking organizes ideas, place and person in terms of their oppression. E.g. Black / White, Thought / Feeling, Men / Women. They are not seen as two different, but interconnected ways. This approach classified every individual either as oppressor or oppressed. The other premise is that these dichotomous differences must be ranked. E.g. Dominant / Subordinate, Men rule Women, White rule Black.10 In the additive model of analysis racism and class-ism can simply be added to sexism. Collins suggests that this incremental approach does not represent the nature of Black women’s oppression but, rather, leads to nonproductive assertions that one factor can and should supplant the other.11 The modifier “multiple ” refers not only to several simultaneous oppressions but to the multiplicative relationships among them as well. In other words, the equivalent formulation is racism multiplied by sexism multiplied by class-ism. A black feminist ideology fundamentally challenges the inter-structure of the oppressions of racism, sexism, and class-ism both in the dominant society and within movements for liberation. It is in confrontation with multiple jeopardy that Black women define and sustain a multiple consciousness essential for our liberation, of which feminist consciousness is an integral part.

Thus, inter-sectionality was seen as more reflective way of understanding Black women or women of colour. Inter-sectionality as a concept was theorized by Black feminist and legal scholar Crenshew. Crenshew in her Work De-marginalizing the intersection of Race and Sex-A Black Feminist Critique of Anti-Discrimination Doctrine, used the concept of inter-sectionality to denote the various ways in which race and gender interact to shape multiple dimension of women’s experience in employment. Crenshaw argues that Black women are discriminated against in ways that often do not fit neatly within the legal categories of either “racism” or “sexism”—but as a combination of both racism and sexism. The present legal system she argued has generally defined sexism as confronted by all women (including white) and racism as faced by all Black and other people of color. This framework make black women legally invisible in the ambit of law. Thus in a way she challenged the legal system. She argues that Black women are frequently absent from analyses of either gender oppression or racism, since the former focuses primarily on the experiences of white women and the later on Black men. She seeks to challenge both feminist and anti-racist theory and practice that neglect to “accurately reflect the interaction of race and gender,” arguing that “because the inter-sectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take inter-sectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated.” Crenshaw argues that a key aspect of inter-sectionality lies in its recognition that multiple oppressions are not each suffered separately but rather as a single, synthesized experience.Collins further used the concept of inter-sectionality to analyze how “oppressions such as ‘race and gender’ or ‘sexuality and nation’ work together in producing injustice.” She used the term “Matrix of Domination” in this regard. In her book Black Feminist Thought, she distinguished between both terms in examining how oppression affects Black women. She states that, Inter-sectionality refers to particular forms of intersecting oppressions, for example, intersections of race and gender, or of sexuality and nation. Inter- sectional paradigms remind us that oppression cannot be reduced to one fundamental type, and that oppressions work together in producing injustice. In contrast, the matrix of domination refers to how these intersecting oppressions are actually organized. Regardless of the particular intersections involved, structural, disciplinary, hegemonic, and interpersonal domains of power reappear across quite different forms of oppression.

According to Collins the matrix of domination refers to the overall organization of power in a society. There are two features to any matrix. First, any specific matrix has a particular arrangement of intersecting systems of oppression. Just what and how these systems come together is historically and socially specific. Second, intersecting systems of oppression are specifically organized through four interrelated domains of power: structural, disciplinary, hegemonic and interpersonal. The structural domain consists of social structures such as law, polity, religion, and the economy. The disciplinary domain manages oppression. The hegemonic domain legitimates oppression. The interpersonal domain influences everyday life. These four domains of power are interrelated and thus influencing one another. By themselves, the structural and disciplinary domains are most resilient to change; but the hegemonic and interpersonal domains are open to individual agency and change. Bringing these domains together creates a more dynamic system, wherein the priorities of black feminist thought and understanding the contradictions of oppression can empower social justice causes.

Ideas of inter-sectionality and the matrix of domination challenge the many of our political assumptions. Black feminist epistemology, for example, challenges our assumptions concerning the separation of the private and public spheres. Inter-sectionality also challenges the assumption that gender stratification affects all women in the same way; race and class matter, as does sexual identity. Inter-sectionality motivates us to look at just how our identities are constructed at the expense of others.

Black Women’s Stand Point

Collins argues that Black women occupy a unique standpoint on their own oppression composed of two interlocking components: (a) Black women’s political and economic status provides them with a distinctive set of experiences that offers a different view of material reality than that available to other groups, and (b) These experiences stimulate a distinctive Black feminist consciousness concerning that material reality. Collins’ view follows the general standpoint logic of arguing that a subordinate group not only experiences a different reality than a group that rules, but a subordinate group may interpret that reality differently than a dominant group. This emphasizes the connection between what one does and how one thinks. Black feminist though formulates and re- articulates the distinctive, self-defined standpoint of African-American women. Kimberle Crenshaw agrees with this and states, Black women sometimes experience discrimination in ways similar to white women’s experiences; sometimes they share very similar experiences with Black men. Yet often they experience double-discrimination—the combined effects of practices which discriminate on the basis of race and on the basis of sex. And sometimes they experience discrimination as Black women—not the sum of race and sex discrimination, but as Black women.

View on Political Economy

Black Feminist adopted the political economic structure of socialism for the analysis. In Combahee River Collective Statement, Black feminists have made their view about capitalism and Marxism. They state,

We realize that the liberation of all oppressed peoples necessitates the destruction of the political-economic systems of capitalism and imperialism as well as patriarchy. 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. Material resources must be equally distributed among those who create these resources.

We are not convinced, however, that a socialist revolution that is not also a feminist and anti-racist revolution will guarantee our liberation. We have arrived at the necessity for developing an understanding of class relationships that takes into account the specific class position of Black women who are generally marginal in the labor force, while at this particular time some of us are temporarily viewed as doubly desirable tokens at white- collar and professional levels. We need to articulate the real class situation of persons who are not merely raceless, sexless workers, but for whom racial and sexual oppression are significant determinants in their working/economic lives. Although we are in essential agreement with Marx’s theory as it applied to the very specific economic relationships he analyzed.

1.5 Towards a Women of Colour Movement

The movement of women of colour i.e. from Asia, Africa, Latin America etc. is largely seen as part of Black feminist movement and based on model provided by them. The movement against racism and sexism initiated by Black feminist provided a useful frame work to understand issue of other minority women. It inspired and motivated them to understand their own oppression. It insisted other women of colour to form a strong movement against racism and sexism. Women from different racial group initially joined the Black feminism and became part of the ongoing movement against racism and sexism. But later on they have developed their own distinct feminism. Sonia Shah, a South Asian American feminist, states that, In many ways, white feminism, with its “personal and political” maxim and its emphasis on building sisterhood and consciousness raising, had brought us together. Black Feminism, on the other hand, had taught us that we could expect more – that feminism can incorporate a race analysis. Yet, while both movements spurred us to organize, neither included our South Asian American agendas – towards battery of immigrant women, the ghettoization of the Indian community, cultural discrimination, bicultural history and identity.

She further argues that,

The movements of the 1960s colluded with the mainstream in defining racism in black and white terms; racism is still defined as discrimination based on skin color, i.e. race. They also to some extent, elevated racism, defined in this way, to the top of layers of oppression. This narrow definition has distorted mainstream perception of anti–Asian racism and even our perception of ourselves – as either non-victim of racism or victims of racism based on skin color.

The discussions were expanded to include the impact of colonialism nd imperialism on third world women. Arguments have been made linking racism with colonialism and its impact on women. Chandra Talpade Mohanty raised awareness of the impact of Western Scholarship on third world women in a context of a world system dominated by the West. She encourages Western feminist scholarship to situate itself within the current Western hegemony over the production, publication, distribution, and consumption of information and ideas, and to examine its role within this context. 14 In her analysis of the representations of third world women in nine texts in the Zed Press “Women in the Third World” series, Mohanty finds that in almost all these texts women are monolithically represented as victims of an unchanging patriarchy. These representations uproot women from their lived situations and the practices that shape, and are shaped by them. The crucial point that is forgotten is that women are produced through these very relations as well as being implicated in forming these relations.

Feminist Scholars and Activist from third world initiated a movement to recognize the struggles of colonial past which also had an impact on the identity formation of women from third world. They argued that discourse on women and race should not be centered on Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand or in terms of Black Vs White. It should also incorporate anti colonial struggle and struggle of women of colour in the third world which are critical for understanding how gender subordinate is both reproduced and challenged everywhere.

1.6 Contribution and Criticism

Like any other movement of marginalized group the Black and Women of Colour Feminist have been criticized for creating hindrance to larger goal and objectives of feminist movement i.e. equality of women across spectrum and liberation from all kind of oppressions. Mainstream feminists saw them as group which was making specific demands and creating gap between whites and blacks within the movement. This criticism has failed to get acceptance as black scholars were largely ignored throughout the feminist movement till 1970s. And even after that it took some time for the larger feminist movement to give acceptance to them and their ideas.

Black feminist have tried to portray that they represent the oppression of all women of colour. Their ideas reflect the aspirations of “other” women of colour also. But the scholars and movement has largely ignored “others” like Asian, South American, and Third World women. Movement of “other” women have gained from the experiences of Black feminist movement but have been critical to them to the extent for confining the debate to black vs white while ignoring others.

The Black Feminist Movement, having gathered its strength, began to work on specific issues like reproductive rights, sterilization abuse, equal access to abortion, health care, child care, the rights of the disabled, violence against women, rape, battering, sexual harassment, welfare rights, lesbian and gay rights, aging, police’s brutality, labour rights and movement, anti-imperialist struggles, anti-racist movement, nuclear disarmament, and preserving the environment, and representation in media. Several organizations were established during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

One of the major contributions black feminists have made to feminist theory is to provide the historical and cultural analysis that weaves the various forms of oppression into a coherent theory for action. As racism is not just an issue for African-Americans, feminism is not just a woman’s issue. Black feminist theory is not about reforms of the present system that will benefit only the few who can fight their way to the top over the bodies of others, but about the creation of a system that allows full participation by all. Feminism, in all of its diversity, can enlighten, enlarge and empower everyone.

The Black Feminist Movement toiled hard to fulfill its objectives. However, it had to face several challenges. Most importantly, the movement must find a way to broaden support among black and Third World women. The aims and objectives of the movement must reach to all. There is a need for the development of mentor relationships between black women scholar/ activists and young black students, both female and male. Individual struggle must be connected with a larger feminist movement to effect change, and so that new black feminists need not reinvent theory or search again for history that was never recorded. Black women should be inculcated and imbibed the theoretical and critical aspects of black feminism. Black women and men need to develop a critical style which encourages further dialogue and development of ideas rather than merely “trashing” and silencing new black feminist voices. Respect for fellow black women must be developed and guarded in spite of the sexist, racist, and classist “cultural baggage” with which all Americans are weighed down. Differences among black women must be acknowledged and affirmed, rather than ignored. Finally, alliances must be strengthened between the black feminist movement and its parent movements. The power and influence that each of these groups has cannot be ignored. As one NBFO (National Black Feminist Organization) member has said, “White women are our natural allies; we cannot take down the system alone”.

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