Women, Race, & Class

by Angela Y. Davis

Ebook, 2011

Status

Checked out

Genres

Publication

Vintage (2011), Edition: 1st Vintage Books ed, 290 pages

Description

A powerful study of the women's liberation movement in the U.S., from abolitionist days to the present, that demonstrates how it has always been hampered by the racist and classist biases of its leaders. From the widely revered and legendary political activist and scholar Angela Davis.--Publisher website.

User reviews

LibraryThing member oddandbookish

I read this book for my Women in Politics class.

This book's central focus is intersectional feminism. It highlights how gender, race, and class factor into inequality. This book started off incredibly strong, but lost its way a bit in the later chapters. However, still a fantastic and insightful

book.

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LibraryThing member eenee

This is a wonderful collection of essays about race (mainly black Americans v. white Americans/immigrants). Davis includes some really important information about early rich white (American) lady reproductive rights work and the exclusion of WOC and working class ladies from the movement. I take

issue with some of her rhetorical strategies and she turns a blind eye to what politics is actually like when human beings are involved (frailties!), but overall this essay collection is 100% required reading (except perhaps that last chapter).

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LibraryThing member thenumeraltwo

This sentence shows up in the opening paragraph:

"But amidst all this scholarly activity, the special intuition of the female slave remains unpenetrated."

At that point you already know your in the company of someone who understands the power of meaningful words.

LibraryThing member terese

one of the first black feminist books i read. a must read for all feminists.

LibraryThing member addict

Longtime activist, author and political figure Angela Davis brings us this expose of the women's movement in the context of the fight for civil rights and working class issues. She uncovers a side of the fight for suffrage many of us have not heard: the intimate tie between the anti-slavery

campaign and the struggle for women's suffrage. She shows how the racist and classist bias of some in the women's movement have divided its own membership. Davis' message is clear: If we ever want equality, we're gonna have to fight for it togethe

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LibraryThing member plenilune

This is one of those books that I had always meant to read but just never did, and now I regret not picking it up sooner! It is smart, mind-opening, and just as relevant now as when it was published nearly 30 years ago.

This is absolutely required reading, not just for all feminists, not just for

all who say "i'm not a feminist, but....", but for all women. In this day and age, we have to work together with women from all races, classes, and cultures to create a more equitable society. Reading this book is a great place to start.

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LibraryThing member araridan

Angela Davis does a great job in explaining the historical and contemporary issues within women's movements that overlook the needs of black and other non-white women. This book could easily read as the precursor to Dorothy Robert's "Killing the Black Body" as there is some overlap in subject

matter between the two books: slavery, early Woman's Suffrage Movements (and the racism in them), and most obviously, a section on reproductive rights. Davis also attacks capitalism while she's at it and even includes a section on notable women (both black and white) within the Communist movement in this country. A very easy and educational read.

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LibraryThing member pinkcrayon99

This book had the most incredible and insightful research. The detailed information on the plight of the enslaved woman was amazing. Another favorite chapter of mine was, Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights. The previously mentioned chapter sheds light on widespread practice of surgical

sterilization. Ms. Davis especially makes a point of how this practice was forced upon the poor. It was also refreshing to read about women who were influential in the Communist and Worker's Rights movements. There was also eye-opening accounts of how racism was rampant in the suffrage movement. This book was straightforward nothing but the facts. I would have liked Ms. Davis to convey more of her thoughts and feelings. You can gather her perspective to a degree but you do not close the book feeling like any certain view was being forced upon you.

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