A historiography of black feminist activism

• DOI: 10.1111/hic3.12576
• Publication Date: 2019-06-06T08:09:33Z
• Authors: Erin D. Chapman
• Keywords: 5. Gender equality; 16. Peace & justice; 10. No inequality; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

AbstractThis article analyzes published histories of black feminist activism. Beginning with the publication of Nell Irvin Painter's historical biography of Sojourner Truth in 1996, the article traces the development of a subfield of history focused specifically on black feminist activists and efforts within the United States. The article focuses on histories that recover black women's engagement in work and organizations that explicitly and simultaneously challenged racism and sexism. The majority of the historiography focuses on the mid‐20th century and follows black women engaged in the civil rights, women's liberation, and/or black power movements. Many of the histories ground black feminism's origins in the Communist Party of the United States of America.