Davis. A - Women, Race, and Class

Angela Davis provides a powerful history of the social and political influence of whiteness and elitism in feminism, from abolitionist days to the present, and demonstrates how the racist and classist biases of its leaders inevitably hampered any collective ambitions. While Black women were aided by some activists like Sarah and Angelina Grimke and the suffrage cause found unwavering support in Frederick Douglass, many women played on the fears of white supremacists for political gain rather than take an intersectional approach to liberation. Here, Davis not only contextualizes the legacy and pitfalls of civil and women’s rights activists, but also discusses Communist women, the murder of Emmitt Till, and Margaret Sanger’s racism. Davis shows readers how the inequalities between Black and white women influence the contemporary issues of rape, reproductive freedom, housework and child care in this bold and indispensable work.

Videos

Interview with Angela Davis

Annotation Count (perusall): 19

Schedule

Sunday 15th May Chapters 1-3
Sunday 22nd May Chapters 4-7
Sunday 29th May Chapters 8-10
Sunday 5th June Chapters 11-13

  • Snackuleata [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Shaping up to be a pretty neat book so far! Pretty ironic that the sheer brutality of the slavery system accidentally gave women equal rights in the gender department (aside from the rape and having your baby stolen). Also pretty funny that the womens' rights movement was largely started by middle class white women being bored out of their minds. Of course this leads to a lot of liberalism later down the line, but it's nice they had a little bit of intersectionality by acknowledging abolitionism as tied closely to their own liberation.