But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies

by Akasha Gloria Hull (Editor), Patricia Bell-Scott (Editor), Brittney Cooper (Afterword)

Originally published in 1982, "All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Black Women's Studies "is the first comprehensive collection of black feminist scholarship. Featuring contributions from Alice Walker and the Combahee River Collective, this book is vital to today's conversation on race and gender in America. With an afterword from "Salon "columnist Brittney Cooper.

Coeditors Akasha (Gloria T.) Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, and Barbara Smith are authors and former women's studies professors.

Brittney Cooper is an assistant professor of women and gender studies and Africana studies at Rutgers University and a co-founder of the Crunk Feminist Collective.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Race, History, Anti Racist, Gender, Social Justice

418 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Akasha Gloria Hull (born December 6, 1944) is a poet, educator, writer, and critic whose work in African-American literature and as a Black feminist activist has helped shape Women’s Studies. As one of the architects of Black Women's Studies, her scholarship and activism has increased the prestige, legitimacy, respect, and popularity of feminism and African-American studies.

Dr. Hull has been a professor of women's studies and literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of Delaware, and the University of the West Indies, Mona, in Kingston, Jamaica. She has published four books, a monograph, three edited collections, over twenty articles in peer-reviewed professional journals, numerous chapters in a dozen volumes, fifteen book reviews, poems in more than thirty magazines and anthologies, and two short stories. Her first novel, Neicy, is due for release in late 2012. She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas (USA).

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Tressie Mcphd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a complicated history with feminism that is probably not unique for a post-civil rights/black power movement black woman. But, all issues with the word feminism aside, I recognized myself too much in these essays to deny that whether I like it or not, I am constantly inhabiting multiple worlds. If the black man's plight is double-consciousness the black woman's must be a quad-consciousness. Michele Wallace's essay could well be my life save the 15 pounds she actually lost. She ends her essay saying there is little hope for a black feminist movement and maybe some minimal hope for a multicultural feminist movement. The sociologist (and black woman) in me tends to agree. This appears to be an individual fight -- I'd argue primarily due to mate competition but again, I'm a sociologist. It's one of those perma-books: on my shelf, moves with me, re-read from time to time.

[Craig Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book exemplifies the early specifc work done in the area of African American feminism. I loved the book, and have often had the opportunity to read it over and over again. Also, looking at this text as a required reading in my African American History Class. Superb!!!

[Carmen Slaughter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this book for years but ever so often I revisit it. I'm always inspired and amazed when I do. Essential reading for men and women of all backgrounds.

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the text that is the foundation for the creation of black feminist studies in the university setting. The book gives a framework to understand the impact of races, sex, and class status on the African American woman. This book is a very important historical document and political statement for African American women and an understanding of the importance of the "examined life" for black women.

[Shuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

But Some Of Us Are Brave is a wonderful introduction to Black feminist history. I've read a number of anthologies of Black feminist theory which skim over the earlier history of a Black women's feminism in the backdrop of the movements 50s and 60s. Maybe with a few notes or an essay you'll be introduced to the origins of the school of thought but because Black feminism covers such a wide-range, I often read anthologies that are focused much more heavily on the work of later scholars.

What I appreciate about Akasha Gloria Hull's anthology is the historical focus. It was first published in 1982 (the second edition was in 2016) and many of the essays focus on earlier organizing experiences or on study of pre-1960s Black women's history/culture. The sections, "Searching for Sisterhood: Black Feminism" and "Creative Survival: Preserving Mind, Body, and Spirit" were the most enlightening for me and help contextualize many of the conversations being had in feminism today, but I also enjoyed combing over the bibliographies and suggested syllabi offered, many of the books/articles listed are works that have been largely forgotten over the past decades and deserve renewed attention.

[Andi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. These women wrote stuff that is still so relevant today, brilliantly tackling the intersection of racism and sexism and the unique experiences black women live in our society. There are a lot of different essays with very strong voices analyzing every angle. Must read. Absolutely phenomenal.

[jewelthinks · Rating 5 out of 5]

The section on black women writers phenomenal. I was enjoying this section so much that I slowed down my reading to savor the essays.

Bottom line: GET THIS BOOK NOW!

[Camilla Lyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even thought, I just started to read it. I find the book very in depth with our issues of yesterday and today. I think this book should be on every black woman and men shelves.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of it is bibliographies and syllabi, advice for classwork and so on. Awesome for that purpose but not a text for a casual reader. I will definitely be using the bibliographies to find more books.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting portrait of the moment when black women's studies was beginning to come into its own...a great book for understanding the historiography of the field in the mid-1980s.

[Massielita · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many of the points of view expressed in the essays in this book are still applicable and accurate today. Specifically that feminism needs to be intersectional.

[Shamira · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read book for anyone seeking to engage seriously and critically in the Black feminist space.

[gracyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible cultural document. I picked it up because of my interest in the title, not knowing what it really was about, and I am so glad I did. It’s the perfect book for people who want to go back and look at the beginning of scholarship surrounding Black feminist writing, it has seemingly endless recommendations for essays, novels, plays and more all by Black women in the 1970s and before in America. Great read.

[Atikah Wahid · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to read about Black Feminism or even just the racial and gender politics of 70s and 80s America, then this is worth a read. To say that this is a pioneering book of a field that is not even popular today is an understatement. What amazes me about these black female scholars within this book are the incredible obstacles in their way: they not only had to build this entire field from the ground up but they had to do so while going against white feminism, sexism within African American community itself, and good ol' white patriarchy. Guns blazing, this book is not shy in giving hard-hitting truths. This book aimed to be intersectional when they didn't even have the term for it at the time. This book is a collection of various essays tackling issues such as unity among black women, racism and sexism that hinder black women within academia, a need to uplift black women's voices especially in literature and many more. A lot of the contributors in this book have since become key figures in the field such as Alice Walker, Michele Wallace, Barbara Smith, and Jean Fagan Yellin. The language is not too difficult, as in it doesn't rely on academic jargon too much, so even a casual reader with an immense interest in this topic could enjoy it.

However, there is a downside to being a pioneer. Mainly that the way this book tackles certain topics is done in a very bare bones sort of way because nobody else has written about them yet. For example, Smith's article "Toward a Black Feminist Criticism" is more of a call to action to develop black feminist criticism rather than a clear or in depth explanation of its framework. That will come much later in the future. So, if you're a 21st century reader like me who's hoping to understand more of the concrete concepts in black feminism, this might not be the best foundation as the field has yet to come together during the writing of this book. There are also some outdated terms and facts such as "Third World women" and the fact that Lydia Maria Child is still credited as the author for "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" instead of Harriet Jacobs. There is also a huge section of the book that is merely bibliography for further reading on certain topics. So, this book is not a cover-to-cover read. I'm sure that section is a godsend back in the day but we have the Internet now and I'm not even sure if these books are still available or relevant.

I still think this book can play a role in giving context on how black feminism first came to be and its main goals and visions. I think this book is a great supplement if you want to have a holistic approach in understanding black feminism. It's also pretty amazing to read the ideas that these scholars had back then that we are still grappling today!

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really important book, but not always easy reading. There are some wonderful essays, especially Alice Walker's "A Child of One's Own". In the process of supporting the study of intersectionality before the term even existed, though, there are pieces like bibliographies and course syllabi, and reading over them can drag.

That being said, some of those bibliographies in their descriptions really give an idea of the work that was necessary, and in how rewarding it could be. This was especially true of Martha H. Brown's listing of non-print materials, work on locating composers, and Gloria T Hull's account of researching Alice Dunbar Nelson.

I don't generally love reading electronic versions, but I admit to being glad I have this one electronically and can keep it. Even though going over those bibliographies did drag, I feel like they are going to be very valuable resources going forward.

[Angélique (Angel) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense, practical, and full of resources, this collection is an ideal starting place for anyone looking to create courses, programming, or departments centered on Black Women's Studies or to study the development of Black Women's Studies in the US. As someone in neither category, I sometimes struggled with the text as I came into it expecting less of a guide to doing Black Women's Studies and more of an anthology of works by Black women that could be used in Black Women's Studies programs. Nevertheless, I appreciated getting a sense of how the work that I'm doing in my field to create the education that doesn't yet exist has in both conscious and unconscious ways been built on the legacy of other Black women educators and how I can continue to extrapolate strategies used by such educators to my work as an LGBTQ+ educator and school counselor. I also appreciated the plethora of resources recommended in this book and will definitely be searching out many of them to continue my learning.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

After getting through about 20%, I DNF’d it. While I advocate for Black feminism proudly, I could not keep my eyes open reading this book. I was the wrong audience. This book is written for those people who wish to teach Black feminism academically. There were some good questions to consider and excellent historical context, but ultimately, the martial was so dry that it might as well have been a textbook on the history of statistics from the day the first number was ever counted.

[Sruti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Direct, deeply felt, and sorely needed. I skimmed through the bibliographies and course offerings, but the rest - the pieces underscoring the need for intersectional social movements and the "engaged" rather than the "objective" analysis of black women throughout history - made this a skillful work.

[Jacqueline Roebuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

an excellent reflection of the gaps that occurred in the feminist movement between european american women and women of color

[Ghadah Al_bariqi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black woman searching for her identity and proving her autonomy.

[BMR, LCSW · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first read on a Kindle. I need to get it in print because there is so much to save and reread.

[Cara Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly important collection framing Black women's studies and noting the many unrecognized contributions of Black women in America during the last four hundred years.

[Mills College Library]

305.48896 A4167 2015

[Free Ekpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive, one-stop shop for all things related to Black women, up until the publication date of this book. The book features essays, bibliographies, and literature from women (mostly Black) who study the contributions of Black women to art and history. The book starts off with an introduction to Black feminism - its goals and roadblocks - and ends with a list of prominent Black women in music, film, literature, academics, etc. and lists a number of resources of where to find their works. I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the amount of information. This was a very well researched book - 4 stars!

[Ta’Niyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is amazing as a guide. it’s written in 1982 and i feel as though it’s not dated. there are some terms that aren’t used anymore in the academic world but that doesn’t take away what this book gives. i find it so important that it’s not just focused on black women in feminism spaces but how all aspects of black womens existence can hold its own as a feminist critique. this book is basically a syllabus with reasonings and a list of references with explanations as to why this is useful to black women’s studies. fantastic guide book with so many references and useful sources.

[Paul Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful and insightful book of articles on the sentiments of black women. And although the book itself is fantastic, simply a meditation on the title near the brings me to tears. "All the women are white, all the blacks are men, but some of us are brave".

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

A critical book for anyone interested in the subject to read, but particularly for the vision and calls to action that were written in the early 1980s and *still* many of which are a struggle to implement, which they should not be. Fantastic resource

[Doris Raines · Rating 1 out of 5]

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[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every single Black woman needs to have this in her library.

[Cubierocks]

An indispensable resource - part essay collection, bibliography/archive, syllabus full of incredible academic work done on Black women's studies.