How We Get Free

In the book How We Get Free, the main focus is Black Feminism and the intersectionality it has. In my previous GWS classes I never learned about Black Feminism. In a class dedicated to female advancement this topic was never mentioned. Not only do black women have to do with racism, they also have to deal with sexism; the women in the book also had to deal with homophobia as well. Black Feminism is something that needs to be talked about and taught. Black women are typically forgotten in the female struggle, as well as the Civil Rights movement. The Combahee River Collective, was a radical group of black feminists. They were one of the most important organizations to come out of the Civil Rights and women’s liberation movements of the 60s and 70s, but we are never taught about them in history. This book is important because it shows the different view points of African Americans, including women who were normally left out. It also shows the effects the Civil Rights Movement had on other groups. I liked this book a lot, and I feel like it's a very important piece of literature that all people should read or at least be aware of.

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  1. Alexis TomassiniApril 23, 2019 at 1:49 PM

    After reading this blog post and reflecting on our discussion in class, I thought about my personal experiences within my classes. In my history classes, African-American women are usually left out of discussion completely. Luckily enough for me, my GWS class covers intersectionality for about half the course. Right now, we are going into depth about the different effects of intersectionality. Specifically, my class has read about the violence against African-American women. We discussed how people view violence through singular lenses of either gender, race, or class. For example, gender-only lenses or race-only lenses show the limitations of non-intersectional thinking. These lenses we see through are based off of the media and how certain groups of people are represented in the media. The media we see and the information that we receive is important because it affects the way that people are represented and therefore, changes one’s ideology about specific groups of people. In the book Intersectionality by Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge, they discuss the importance of recognizing the different intersecting factors in someone’s life that would oppress them such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, or ability. Talking about the previous discussions we have had in class, there has been little information about how black females felt or how black females helped the Civil Rights movement or any movements in general. Even in my past history classes, black females are erased from all history. I agree with Sarah that this gives a different light to a new group of people who we have not talked about yet. I also agree that black feminism is something that must be talked about because even the book said, black females are still not free to this day.

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