ode to beverly Guy-Sheftall
Beverly Guy-Sheftall's compilation, Words of Fire (1995) is the basis for most of this blog's discussion thus far. In the preface Beverly writes, "Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought documents the presence of continuous feminist intellectual tradition in the nonfictional prose of African American women going back to the early nineteenth century when abolition and suffrage were urgent political issues. It is a rewriting of the familiar narrative of American feminism and a retelling of African American history. It is deliberately incomplete and includes mostly previously published essays."
Words of Fire then begins with Maria Miller Stewart's "Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, the Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build," which was published as a pamphlet in 1831, and speaks to how her rights as a Child of God should be recognized. In the pages, essays, speeches that follow, countless issues are addressed that pertain to the lives of black women in this country. From slavery and all of its sexual/traumatic evils, to reproductive justice, to the hypersexualization of black women's bodies in the media, to the AIDS epidemic, to class issues, to black nationalism...this anthology is a multifaceted approach to black feminist/womanist theory that draws on so many talented women's works. The chapter this site primarily focuses on is the fourth, Beyond the Margins: Black Women Claiming Feminism. Deborah K. King, bell hooks, Barbara Smith, Audre Lorde, Patricia Hill Collins, as well as many other black feminists comprise this chapter.
Words of Fire then begins with Maria Miller Stewart's "Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, the Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build," which was published as a pamphlet in 1831, and speaks to how her rights as a Child of God should be recognized. In the pages, essays, speeches that follow, countless issues are addressed that pertain to the lives of black women in this country. From slavery and all of its sexual/traumatic evils, to reproductive justice, to the hypersexualization of black women's bodies in the media, to the AIDS epidemic, to class issues, to black nationalism...this anthology is a multifaceted approach to black feminist/womanist theory that draws on so many talented women's works. The chapter this site primarily focuses on is the fourth, Beyond the Margins: Black Women Claiming Feminism. Deborah K. King, bell hooks, Barbara Smith, Audre Lorde, Patricia Hill Collins, as well as many other black feminists comprise this chapter.