The Combahee River Collective, formed in 1974, was named for the South Carolina location where Harriet Tubman led a raid that freed 750 enslaved people. A Black feminist organization, the CRC advocated for the rights of all Black women. In 1977, they published the pioneering Combahee River Collective Statement, which outlined the interlocking oppressions of race, class, gender, and sexual, proposing solutions to societal issues such as racism, homophobia, and gender discrimination. #combaheerivercollective #womenshistorymonth #goodbllacknewscalendar #blackfeminism #intersectionalfeminism #blackhistory #americanhistory🇺🇸 https://www.instagram.com/p/CpTEPuJv0I1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

The Combahee River Collective, formed in 1974, was named for the South Carolina location where Harriet Tubman led a raid that freed 750 enslaved people. A Black feminist organization, the CRC advocated for the rights of all Black women. In 1977, they published the pioneering Combahee River Collective Statement, which outlined the interlocking oppressions of race, class, gender, and sexual, proposing solutions to societal issues such as racism, homophobia, and gender discrimination. #combaheerivercollective #womenshistorymonth #goodblacknewscalendar #blackfeminism #intersectionalfeminism #blackhistory #americanhistory🇺🇸 https://www.instagram.com/p/CpTEzyqPPaS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

When reflecting on my thoughts when I wrote this, I think of Audre Lorde’s work, The Master’s Tools. I think because the view of feminism was bad or evil, mainstream or lifestyle feminism today has been developed for people to digest and get behind without understanding, recognizing, and addressing the politics and movement behind feminism. And the turn to using the master’s tool of capitalism into feminism, the messages and the work that is getting put into the Women’s Movement, are pushed to the side as extremist.

I wrote this based on an article titled, The Making of a New Anti-Racist Feminist Working Class, on the history of the Women’s Movement. Bell Hooks discusses this topic in her book, FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY. Through history, the image of a feminist has been a middle to an upper-class white woman, and many have not talked about how people from the lower class and of color have different problem and issues. Even though the women in these demographics were usually around them, working for them. 

How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, at the Bureau! @keeangayamahtta @haymarketbooks #combaheerivercollective (at Bureau of General Services-Queer Division) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnJs1Q4BGsZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=130zl8856wgvg