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

  • Sandinband [any, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Enjoying the book so far! It was really interesting to hear about the roles of men and women in the enslaved families and how it wasnt as strict out of necessity. I liked hearing about the differences between the dynamics of enslaved families in comparison to white families like how women with different fathers to their children were still wed and children were still given the names of other family members who may have been sold and not even be around to see the child grow up. I did note that the enslaved children didn't perform field labor until the age of 10 and found it interesting in comparison to the ages some child laborers would later work from after the abolition of slavery in that form and before child labor laws.

    I found it so fucking gross that one dude tried to say that slaveowners had "love" for the slaves they raped and the children produced from said rape that were still fucking enslaved. Its even worse than the people who try to say that families that had one slave loved them like family (that they happen to own??)

    When describing Prudence's efforts to educate Black girls resulting in her basically being shunned from her entire town it made me think of how that will likely happen if anyone successfully builds a leftist commune in the US. Although itll also likely result in death from cops and chuds.

    The racism in the anti slavery movement wasnt at all surprising considering how many racist liberals and "leftists" still say Black lives matter while jumping at any chance to be antiblack. Also wasnt surprised by it in the women's rights movement as i personally have met many white women who claim to be feminists (or even anti racists) and talk over all women of color and clearly think of us as less.

    Kinda disappointed that the book didnt address that Sojourner Truth never said "Aint I a Woman" :/ Sojouner was born in (dutch) New york and she didnt have the dialect of a southern slave. The version that she's known for was purposely and incorrectly spread by Frances Dana Gage, a white woman who had to add the n word to it :/// Gage was an abolitionist and did it to help the suffrage and women's rights movements but still erased the identity and changed the words of a previously enslaved Black woman so she deserves plenty of criticism.

    You can and should read more here: https://www.thesojournertruthproject.com/

    The website has what's close to the original version and you can compare Gage's version to that