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A historiography of black feminist activism
Author(s) -
Chapman Erin D.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/hic3.12576
Subject(s) - historiography , black feminism , gender studies , feminism , biography , social activism , black power , civil rights , power (physics) , communism , black women , racism , sociology , political science , law , politics , physics , quantum mechanics
Abstract This article analyzes published histories of black feminist activism. Beginning with the publication of Nell Irvin Painter's historical biography of Sojourner Truth in 1996, the article traces the development of a subfield of history focused specifically on black feminist activists and efforts within the United States. The article focuses on histories that recover black women's engagement in work and organizations that explicitly and simultaneously challenged racism and sexism. The majority of the historiography focuses on the mid‐20th century and follows black women engaged in the civil rights, women's liberation, and/or black power movements. Many of the histories ground black feminism's origins in the Communist Party of the United States of America.