Historically, African American women experienced oppression and later resistance against the oppressive treatment. Black feminist thought puts into context some of the struggles that characterized African American women. In this theory, Patricia Hill Collins invokes deep intellectual thoughts on the fight against repression and subjugation meted against the Black women. The Black feminist thought is imperative not only due to its critical contribution to social methodologies and theories but also for creating crucial knowledge that could be used in social justice movements. The theory relies on intersectional analysis to clarify the relationship between symbolic, structural, and daily aspects of dominance and individual as well as collective struggles in different social life domains. Collins uses this theory to interpret the experiences of African American women for a better understanding o of their historical challenges. This paper will explore the significance of the black feminist theory. The black feminist thought has six unique distinguishing features that characterize the daily struggles of African American women.
Overview Black Feminist Theory
Black feminist thought is one of the modern feminism theories geared towards stimulating women activism and advocacy. Bliss (2015) argues that demonstrates that as long as African American women’s subservience within interconnecting oppressions of class, sexuality, race, nation, and gender continues, Black feminism remains needed as an activist response against the oppression. In the same breath, the Black feminist thought has a similar overarching significance among African American women. It ignites resistance against oppression in not only its practices but also ideas that have been used to justify its persistence. Arguably, in the absence of the intersecting oppression against Black women, the Black feminist thought and its similar theories would not be necessary (Brewer, 2016). Remarkably, the Black feminist thought is a critical social theory that seeks to empower Black women in light of the social injustices fronted and sustained by the interconnecting oppressions.
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Given that African American women cannot be satisfactorily empowered unless the interconnecting oppressions are abolished, Black feminist thought backs extensive social justice principles that surpass Black women’s individual needs. García (2014) posits that the Black feminist thought responds to the central contradictions of the United States society. Apparently, the democratic promises of all Americans’ equality under the law, social justice, and individual freedom are made. However, differential treatment based on gender, race, class, citizenship status, and sexuality persists. Nonetheless, groups organized based on gender, race, class, or race are not fundamentally a problem. But, when Black, poor women, which are discriminated against remain hopeless for group-based advancement, it is social injustice.
For African American women face institutionalized racism driven by racial segregation and related discriminatory practice inherently designed to deny them equitable treatment. Incidentally, despite the integration strides marked since the 1970s, racial segregation is deeply entrenched in employment, schooling, and housing (Burack, 2018). There is racism in the everyday situation at not only the workplace but also in stores, housing, schools, and social interaction (Collins, 2016). It is worse for most Black women as they are openly denied opportunities. Patricia Hill Collins illustrates well that racial segregation is still a central feature in the United States social landscape an aspect that leaves Black women to think that “ the more things change, the more they remain the same” (Chepp, 2015, p.214). Surprisingly, shrouding the persistent inequalities is a color blindness rhetoric designed to cover up the social inequalities. In a setting where many people believe that conversing about race promotes racism, allegedly, equality lies in treating all people the same. However, this is not the case for African American women.
The Black feminist thought recognizes this connection between consciousness and experience that shapes the lives of Black women. As Collins (1990) illustrates in her thought, despite the wide-ranging oppression against the Black women, they are endowed with precise premises that they could use to fight the oppression. The oppression fosters group commonalities that they could nurture to create a collective knowledge base and wisdom. The Black feminism thought shows that such collective wisdom could be used to foster political activism, which has been lacking among African American women. in a broad sense, the Black feminism thought highlights the interconnecting oppressions against Black women while at the same time emphasizing the significance of the collective wisdom emanating from their group commonalities. The African American women’s group consciousness and standpoint against oppression could shape or rather eradicate the end of the social injustices they suffer. Black feminist theory illustrates clearly that common challenges (such as Black women’s oppression) could promote similar vision angles creating group standpoint or knowledge among the African American women.
Key Concepts in the Black Feminist Thought
Different Responses to the Group Challenges in Black Feminism
Tension linking ideas and experiences is a key distinguishing characteristic of the Black feminist thought. On one hand, all U.S. Black women undergo similar challenges that arise from living in an American society that routinely and historically devalues women of African origin. Smith (2013) opines that although African American women experience common challenges, it does not imply that as an individual Black woman, they all had similar experiences. Hence, on the other hand, regardless of the common challenges facing the African American women collectively, diverse responses to such important themes characterize the Black women’s group standpoint or knowledge.
Notably, notwithstanding their diversity on age, social class, religion, sexual orientation, and region, African American women are confronted by societal practices that relegate them to inferior schools, public treatment, neighborhoods, and housing. As the Black feminist thought indicates, these differential considerations are hidden behind various common stereotypical beliefs about African American women’s sexuality, work, intelligence, and habits. These collective challenges lead to a recurring series of experiences of individual Black women. For instance, Black women from different backgrounds express that they more often than not faced similar treatment especially in stores, either being ignored, seated near restrooms, or followed as a potential shoplifter. Based on this view, it is clear that Black feminist thought demonstrates precisely that differential group treatment against African American women is indeed ongoing.
Despite historical era differences, social class, skin color, age, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, struggle against violence is deep-rooted as a common thread binding Black women. Smith (2013) explores the Black feminist thought and highlights that throughout history, male superiority and white supremacy characterize the struggles of African American women as they strive to survive through the oppressive and overly exploitative society. In light of the Black feminist thought, African American is seen at the risk of sexual exploitation. Black women's views allege that African American women could be victimized by poverty, misogyny, or racism. The theory reveals that Black women are aware that they are vulnerable to sexual violence including rape. Although some of the Black women prevail over these risks, the legacy of their struggle comes at a cost.
As Collins illustrates in the Black feminist thought, the legacy of struggle for the Black women uncovers longstanding awareness of core themes of intersecting oppression. There is a well-defined call to replace the devalued image of African American womanhood with clear, thoughtful, and self-defining images. Collins advances African American women’s activism as Black community leaders, as well as teachers, and mothers besides other professions. Incredibly, thoughtfulness to sexual politics is a core theme advanced by this feminist theory. Despite the common experiences as a group, on an individual level Black women interpret and respond to the challenges differently. The African American women exhibit varying series of experiential knowledge that shapes their individual reactions and responses to oppression. In light of the different factors shaping their diverse reactions to the common challenges, it is apparent that no homogenous African American women’s standpoint. However, there is one collective Black women’s experiential knowledge that exists: the tension they face as they respond to the common challenges. Therefore, Collins creates a clear picture that despite the broad awareness of the common challenges, the Black women respond differently making a homogenous standpoint become elusive.
Black Feminist Thought and Black Feminist Practice
A connection between any ensuing collective standpoint or knowledge and African American women’s common experiences is another distinguishing characteristic of the Black feminist thought. As part of an oppressed community, African American women have created alternative knowledge and practices to promote their empowerment. As the Black feminist thought indicates, contrary to the dialectical association connecting activism and oppression, dialogical connection characterizes the group knowledge and collective experiences of the Black women. Collins demonstrates clearly that on both group and individual levels, a dialogical association implies that any change in the way Black women think might be accompanied by a change in actions; similarly, altered experiences might, in turn, arouse changed consciousness. As far as the United States African American women are concerned, the fight for definite Black feminism could occur via a continuous dialogue in which thought and action shape one another.
The Black feminist thought directs that there is a dialogical relationship in the U.S. Black women community. On one side, there exists Black feminist practice embodied in the form of lived experiences. When visible and organized, the Black feminist practice takes the context of explicitly African American feminist social movements. For instance, the Black women’s club movement, as well as the Black feminist movement aroused by the women’s social justice and antiracist movements in the 1960s through the 1970s. Nevertheless, as Collins shows in the Black feminist thought, the overt political activism remains unusual. They appear unusual when compared to the typical quiescence patterns of the African American women’s advocacy.
In light of the history of racial segregation in the U.S., Black feminist thought demonstrates that Black feminist activism illustrates unique patterns. Due to the fact that Blacks in the U.S. have been subjugated to racial segregation for long, the Black feminist practice is common within Black nationalist-driven projects and Black community developments. As shown in the Black feminist thought, this aspect implies that racial segregation drives Black nationalism-regions in the U.S. where the communities are more racially integrated, there is less possibility of Black Nationalism. The Black feminist thought identifies that, due to the common history and perceived destiny of the Black community, Black solidarity, the notion that Blacks share a common interest and ought to work together, found its way into African American women’s political viewpoint (Collins, 1990). Therefore, the path of Black women to “feminist” consciousness is typically driven by the ideologies of Black Nationalism in the context of antiracist justice efforts.
In view of Black women activists, it is general that nationalist struggle is a rich platform for honing women’s consciousness. The Black feminist thought, as critical social theory, incorporates a range of institutional practices and knowledge bodies that actively contend with the fundamental questions confronting the United States African American women collectively. The Black feminist thought suggests that the Black women in the United States constitute one of the many groups facing social injustice situations. Notably, the Black feminist thought is a critical social theory because it is committed to justice for African American women. It stimulates political activism among Black women as a way of fighting oppression. The potential importance of Collin’s Black feminist thought supersedes the mere presentation of Black women as theorists. Similar to the Black feminist practice it reflects and which it aims to promote, the Black feminist thought creates a collective identity for the Black women regarding the dimensions of their standpoint. Thus, by a rearticulating process, the Black feminist thought could provide Black women a new idea about themselves and their world.
Black Women Scholars and Dialogical Practices
The significant contribution of Black women intellectuals to Black women’s activism and advocacy is another key feature of the Black feminist thought. But, the existence of the African American women scholars’ perspective does not imply that Black women, either academic or not, appreciate the standpoint, recognizes its importance, or see its potential in stimulating social change. One imperative task for the African American scholars of varying social classes, occupations, ages, and educational backgrounds entails the right questioning and investigation of all dimensions that constitute the standpoint of African American women for other Black women. Historically, African American women scholars exercised a special relationship for the larger Black women community, an idea that framed the contours of the Black feminist thought as a critical social theory. As the Black feminist thought indicates, specialists or experts in a group setting produce a great deal of knowledge.
The Black feminist thought enunciates that although some knowledge could be taken for granted, the shared information plays a great role in stimulating and transforming the consciousness of African American women. As the theory shows education among Black women does not have to mean running away from dialogical relationships. The activities of the educated African American women in the Black women’s club movement illustrate the dialogical relationship between a part of Black women scholars and the larger community of Black women. For instance, the works of Ida B. Wells, Anna Julia Cooper, and Frances Harper were shaped and helped in influencing the wide Afro-American women movement (Collins, 1990). This note does not mean these Black women intellectuals represented the standpoint of all African American women but, an affirmation that they formed an intellectual, educated elite that attempted to formulate historical and cultural perspectives among Black women. While Patricia Hill Collins came later than the early Black women scholars, her contribution to the Black feminist thought places her and her theory squarely to the league of thought-provoking scholars.
The Black feminist thought pronounces the need for Black women to just like early scholars to join activism regardless of their level of education. The African American women scholars have an opportunity to rescue their fellow Black women from the fangs of oppression by developing a dialogical relationship. Black feminist thought encourages Black women intellects to participate in social institutions that seek to create solutions against racially motivated oppression of the Black women. It would foster the development of historical and cultural perspectives organic to the larger African American womanhood. Considering this viewpoint, it is clear that contemporary African American women scholars face the same challenge of promoting dialogues.
Black Feminism as Changing and Dynamic
The importance of change forms another significant facet of the Black feminist thought. Neither Black feminist practice nor Black feminist thought is static. The Black feminist thought expresses that social conditions are dynamic and so should practices and knowledge needed to defy them to change. Currently, the conditions that existed decades ago are different in the United States. This aspect as recognized in the Black feminist thought implies that current not all Black women could occupy similar positions in the struggle for African American women’s resistance against the chains of oppression (Alinia, 2015). States that the Black women in the U.S. now live in different contextual settings-some in class-segregated communities and others in far more integrated neighborhoods. In light of this viewpoint, African American women from varying social classes are in new relations to one another. Still, the Black feminist thought spells itself clearly on the need to rise to the occasion for the good of the wider community of Black women in the United States. It shows that, despite the change in social conditions, all Black women have their respective roles to play in the fight against oppression.
The Black feminist thought calls for a paradigm shift in resisting oppression. The dynamic social conditions facing Black women catalyze the need for a novel Black feminist approach to the common challenges of the U.S. African American women. Initially, women were confined to undertaking domestic service; the contemporary society is different but challenges against African American women still persist (Collins, 1990). Black women should understand that there should be defined limitations to domestic service. It is high time that African American women stepped out and faced their common challenges including labor discrimination and housing segregation head on them. The Black feminist thought directs that the days for exploitation might appear to be over, but, it is the level of exploitation that has taken a new shape. Black women are yet to be liberated and therefore there is a need for a collective approach towards feminist activism and advocacy.
Social Justice Projects and Black Feminism
The relationship between Black feminist thought and other social justice projects is a critical feature of Patricia Hill Collin’s theory. According to the Black feminist thought, Collins highlights that the struggles for Black women against various interconnecting oppressions are a fight for human dignity, social justice, and empowerment (Rousseau, 2013). The same view is contained in the 1893 Anna Julia Cooper speech delivered to women. According to Cooper’s speech, women should take a position on the solidarity of singleness of life, humanity, injustice, and unnaturalness of all favouritisms, be it condition, country, race, or sex (Rosenfelt & Newton, 2013). Based on this view and in light of the Black feminist thought, Black women should whether be vying for a political office, advocating for autonomous African American organizations, supporting African American community institutions, think of their political actions as means for dignity and empowerment.
Conclusion
Indeed, Black feminist theory shows clearly that common challenges including Black women’s oppression could promote similar vision angles creating group standpoint or knowledge among the African American women. All U.S. Black women undergo similar challenges that arise from living in an American society that routinely and historically devalues women of African origin. These collective challenges lead to a recurring series of experiences of individual Black women. Black feminist thought and highlights that throughout history, male superiority and white supremacy characterize the struggles of African American women as they strive to survive through the oppressive, and overly exploitative society. Indeed, as part of an oppressed community, African American women have created alternative knowledge and practices to promote their empowerment. As the Black feminist thought indicates, contrary to the dialectical association connecting activism and oppression, dialogical connection characterizes the group knowledge and collective experiences of the Black women. Regardless, of their social class, it is clear that all Black women should arise and participate in the fight against oppression for the benefit of the wider African American women community.
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