There is an intersection between the feminist struggle and the black American civil rights struggle. This intersection comes into perspective when considering the black American woman. When a black woman is discriminated at any level of the society, it is never clear whether such discrimination relates to her race or her gender (Smith, NP). Whereas civil rights activists consider race and gender as two independent aspects, the intersection in the struggle for each of them cannot be ignored.
While fighting for the rights of the black women, the feminist movements often encountered issues of the black woman that were tied to the race. Moreover, the civil rights movements advocating for the rights of the black Americans often found issues related to sexism, particularly with black American women. The intersection between racism and sexism led to the development of the term Black Feminism in the 1960s (Tiffany, n.d.). Black feminism addressed the issues affecting black women that could neither be isolated from their race or gender.
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Women activists like Rosa Parks faced several obstacles in their civil rights movements. For instance, there was little recognition of the contribution that women had made in these civil rights movements (Ware, 1997). The movements were highly male dominated and did not take into account the critical role that women were playing. Therefore, most women become discouraged to pursue the civil rights movements. Secondly, most civil rights movements restricted the role of women to domestic and clerical positions (McCrayer, 2015). This restricted the contribution that women could make both in the context of these civil rights organizations. They were only given secondary roles that ensured that they could not participate in advocating for civil rights. Lastly, their dedication to family allowed them little time to participate in civil rights movements (Collier & Franklin, 2001).
In conclusion, the intersection between the struggle for gender and racial equality cannot be ignored in American history. These points brought a relationship between the two struggles and perhaps strengthen their force to struggle harder. However, the challenges that women faced during the civil rights movements hampered their contribution to the whole concept of equality.
References
Collier-Thomas, B., & Franklin, V. P. (2001). Sisters in the struggle: African-American women in the civil rights black power movement . New York, NY: New York University Press
McCrayer, A. J. (2015, May 08). My Feminism Is Black, Intersectional, and Womanist – And I Refuse to Be Left Out of the Movement . Retrieved 6 Mar. 2017 from http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/05/black-womanist-feminism/
Smith, S. (n.d.). Black feminism and intersectionality. Retrieved 6 Mar. 2017 from http://isreview.org/issue/91/black-feminism-and-intersectionality
Tiffany, J. (n.d.). Freedom Now! Student Work. Retrieved 6 Mar. 2017, from http://cds.library.brown.edu/projects/FreedomNow/tiffany_joseph_thesis.html
Ware, S. (1997). Modern American women: a documentary history . New York: McGraw-Hill
