Beverly Smith


Beverly Smith’s interview is particularly illuminating in that it provides an account of the formulation of black feminism, starting from when she was a young girl growing up in a woman-led household. I thought this foundation was interesting, especially considering that Smith later introduces an idea she doesn’t necessarily believe in but certainly qualifies: that black women “definitionally are a kind of feminist.” Smith suggests that this is not entirely the case, but that black women have a certain “foundation that nurture [them] toward feminism in some ways” and that this is a foundation non-black women lack. I think this there is value in this sentiment; from a white woman’s perspective, I can only really speak to that part of the statement, but there is a certain, pervasive power dynamic and blindness between white men and women that prevents this foundation of feminism. Another interesting section of the interview is the contention between the white feminist movement and the emerging black feminist movement. Smith relays how her time spent at the few NOW meetings she did attend was somehow simultaneously groundbreaking and not groundbreaking enough. These meetings were the first spaces where Smith heard violence against women in a public discourse, which was a particularly revolutionary grounds for discussion with her upbringing and the social context of the 1970s. However, Smith expresses her discomfort with the Anglo-saturation of the NOW meetings and notes that the experiences of black women are too distinct from those of white women for there to be an all-encompassing discussion. Black women’s issues needed to be addressed and understood as unique from white women’s because of the intersectionality of their encounters and existence.

Comments

  1. TaylorMay 6, 2019 at 3:08 PM


    I agree with your statements that Smith’s perspective that a women’s foundation in some ways nurtures and nudges her towards feminism. I think this can be explained by their upbringing which is typically female as we know that African-Americans have a disproportionate number of single parent households. I argue that being a Black woman and living with only your mother can pave the way for feminist thought. In a hypothetical situation, the child would be able to see and experience the injustices and oppression her mother may face, which can lead to wanting a change such as the women’s movement to occur. Again, from a white women’s perspective who has not had to face the same harsh reality as Black women, I can only speak from hypotheticals. I also think that your comment about needing to address the issues as well as the intersectionality of the movement ties in nicely to a quote from earlier on in the book, where Michelle Wallace is quoted: “We exist as women who are Black who are feminists, each stranded for the moment, working independently because there is not yet an environment in this society remotely congenial to our struggle--because, being on the bottom, we would have to do what no one else has done: we would have to fight the world.’”(Ransby 12). It is interesting to note that Wallace discusses both the unity and separation of the movement as both work towards achieving the same goal.

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