Black feminist theory

Misogynoir

Coined by Moya Bailey in 2008 in Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance
Describes the anti-Black, racist misogyny Black woman experience
In particular, in the US; digital/media culture
Portmanteau of “misogyny” and “noir” (French word for black. Think: film noirs)
Originally used to describe American media; grew to describe the entire global phenomenon
Perpetuated by popular media; especially via stereotypes (mammy, jezebel, welfare queen)
bell hooks dictated the need to produce contradictory imagery to combat this
Sarah Baartman is an early example of misogynoir in the media
Misogynoiristic portrayals of Black women perpetuate misgynoiristic policy, especially in terms of health policy
Black women feel less pain → less likely to receive pain medication or have pain taken seriously in hospitals
Black maternal mortality rates are much higher

Womanism

Discussed in What’s in a Name? (1996) by Patricia Hill Collins
Coined in 1983 by Alice Walker
Defined by Walker as a black feminist or feminist of color
“You acting womanish” → too grown
Picked up by black nationalist movement to rebel against feminism/white feminism
Meant to exist in contrast with feminist
Does not call for interracial cooperation
Meant to be a way for Black women to address sexism without attacking Black men
Walker intentionally created space in womanism for lesbians; however, this was often ignored

Garveyism / UNIA

Universal Negro Improvement Association
Pan-Africanist movement led by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican who founded the movement in WWI America
Rooted in the idea that all Africans around the globe have their roots in Africa; they have a beautiful past, history, & people for which they should be proud
Intentionally capitalist: focused on promoting Black capitalist enterprises to enhance Black society
Goal: self-determination for Black people around the world based on the doctrines of Pan-Africanism
HQ in Harlem
Negro World, investment funds, Negro Factories Corporation
Garvey was authoritarian & prioritized loyalty over intelligence → his downfall
Garvey survives a shooting; gives him god-like quality

Community feminism

Posited by Ula Taylor in “Negro Women are Great Thinkers as Well as Doers” (2000)
Allowed Black women to function within their communities as both helpmates & leaders
And within the Pan-Africanist movement
Amy Jacques-Garvey, who took over leadership of the UNIA while Marcus Garvey was in jail, is the prime example of this
Community feminism took place specifically within the 1920s
The bringing together of nationalism (which is very paternalistic) and feminism
Women whose activism is focused on assisting both the men & women in their lives; also initiating/participating in activities to uplift their entire community
For AJG, her community feminism stood in contrast to the nationalist movement her husband was building, which reinforced traditional gender roles

Lynch law

Ida B. Wells’ “Lynch Law in America” (1900)
Lynchings as the “unwritten law”/usurpation of the law
Wells argued that lynchings threatened America in 4 ways:
Lynchers are not brave men & do not allow people their freedom
America has to pay other countries indemnities; hurts economy
Lynchings are savage & make a mockery of Anglo-Saxon society
Blatant ignorance of the law threatens the legal base of America
Perpetuated often by the KKK
Sexual violence/threats to white woman as an excuse for lynching

Jane crow

Coined by Pauli Murray in 1965; expanded upon in “The Liberation of Black Women” (1970)
The entire range of assumptions, attitudes, stereotypes, customs, & arrangements that have prevented women from participating in society as equals to men
Jim Crow with added layer of sexism; double burden
Qualities of strength & independence → stereotypes as “female dominance” attributed to the “matriarchate” posited by the Moynihan report
Men in the civil rights movement sometimes pander to sexism in their fight against racism
Other issues of sexism within the CRM, especially more militant/nationalistic views, & the erasure of women’s contributions

Deviance as resistance

Defined by Cathy J. Cohen in “Deviance as Resistance” (2004)
Black queer studies
Expansive understanding of “queer” rooted in ideas of deviance/agency, not inclusion/exclusion
Role of race & relationship to dominant power when it comes to sex
Individuals with little power in society engage in counternormative behaviors, especially in terms of the nuclear family → labeled “deviants”
Their engaging in such behavior is their attempts to gain autonomy & new frameworks for life
Their deviance is especially directed at family structure, heterosexuality, & sex in general
Especially prevalent in the 80s/90s
Relationship between deviance, defiance, & resistance

Cult of domesticity / cult of true womanhood

True womanhood stressed piety, chastity, submissiveness, & domesticity
Connected to the idea of “separate spheres” for ment & women → women’s sphere was the home
Cult of domesticity/true womanhood excluded Black women, who worked hard labor & therefore were not true women
Many women’s clubs used this logic to exclude Black women/only allowed in “true women”
Black women doing hard labor were the antithesis of the “true woman” (White) who was proper & domestic
Helped White women maintain their influence over the household → their only power
Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells, & Frances Harper all wrote essays to argue against this
Cult of domesticity limits women from being in the public sphere, but Black women were already in the public sphere

Urbanization

Resulted from Black people moving into urban areas in the Great Migration (1915-1970)
Discussed by Hazel Carby in “Policing the Black Woman’s Body in an Urban Context” (1992)
Moved to cities: Atlanta, Birmingham (south); Philly, NYC, Cincinnati (north)
Migration followed the train along longitudinal lines
Urbanization issues: severely limited employment, housing segregation, homelessness, poverty
Contributed to perception that black people were beholden to vice
Economic issues caused by urbanization led to moral panic
Resulted in new language/images/methods to police black women’s bodies
Welfare queen stereotype

Stereotypes

Mammy, happy sambo, coon, brute, pickaninny, jezebel, welfare queen, minstrel
Ethnic Notions (1987)
Irish immigrants perform as the happy sambo in blackface in 1820s
Zip coon & sambo were double edged sword: sambo was happy in his proper place; zip coon was too stupid to really be free (emerged after emancipation)
Mammy: happy, loyal to masters, protective of the house, never sexy (antithesis of white women)
Birth of a Nation (1915): post-emancipation stereotypes (savages); reignited KKK
Pickaninnies: animalistic black children (often in trees/rivers & naked)
Welfare queen: emerged 70s/80s; argument against welfare; suggest sexual promiscuity & cheating the government (invokes the Moynihan report)

Women’s club movement

Emerged in 1890s because white women’s clubs would not admit Black women
National conference in Boston in 1895 resulted in the National Federation of Afro-American Women
Black female empowerment, both individually and as a people, was the overriding objective
1896: National Association of Colored Women formed when the National Federation of Afro-American Women & the National League of Colored Women merged
Woman’s Era: the magazine; marked pivotal moment for women’s publishing & awareness of Black women’s issues (including double jeopardy)
Examples of club women: Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, Frances Harper
In some ways, an intellectual movement
NACW had membership of 50,000 by 1897
Black women intellectuals advocated for a transformed, inclusive women’s movement

Policing of black women’s bodies

Articulated by Hazel Carby in “Policing the Black Woman’s Body in an Urban Context” (1992)
Urbanization after the Great Migration created a moral panic due to economic issues
Led to new stereotypes/images/language/methods to police Black women’s bodies
Welfare queen stereotype
Urban problems blamed on women’s supposed character flaws
Framed as hypersexual & lacing control → used to justify surveillance of nightlife
Presented as asexual & ideal for domestic labor → reinforced through training/institutional models
Jane Edna Hunter’s Phillis Wheatley Assc.; to discipline Black women & train them in the “proper” way to act

Great migration

1915-1970
From rural South to urban North
Migration followed trains along longitudinal routes
Led to urbanization
Problems: severely limited employment, housing segregation, homelessness, poverty
Led to moral panic
Clubs/gambling → reinforced stereotypes that black people beholden to vice (thanks to the matriarchate)
Changed political power

Great depression

1929-1933
Black people were last hired & first fired; therefore, hit harder & more economically impoverished
Also were not afforded all the benefits of the New Deal

Ida b wells

1884: challenged segregation of trains, but court ruled against her in 1887
In 1892, three of her friends (one a very close friend) were lynched as the result of a dispute with a rival grocery store
Became an anti-lynching advocate
Wrote editorials in the Memphis Free Speech
Investigated & reported on lynching
Wrote “Lynch Law in America” in 1900

Pauli murray

1910-1985
Born in Baltimore
Graduated college 1933
Only woman in her class at Howard
Yale Law
“Confrontation by typewriter”; wrote open letter to FDR
Writes thesis in 1944: “Should we overturn Plessy v. Ferguson?”
Later used as part of the foundation for Brown v. Board without her knowing
Coined idea of “Jane Crow”
“Boy-girl”
Wanted to be in a “normal” (heterosexual) relationship with Peggy Jones
Peggy couldn’t see Pauli as a man; relationship ended; Pauli had emotional meltdown & was hospitalized
Searched for a hidden male gland within her to explain her attraction to women
Asked doctors why she was having these emotions/feelings/attractions
Hidden folder marked “sexuality”

Sarah baartman

Hottentot Venus / Saartije
1789 - 1815
Khoi Khoi woman from South Africa
Khoi Khoi were engaged in guerilla war with their European conquerors
Worked for Peter Cesars in Cape Town
Rumors that Khoikhoi women had strange genitalia → fed into attitudes that Khoikhoi people were subhuman
In 1810, Hendrick Cesars & Alexander Dunlop took her on a boat to England (where the slave trade had just been abolished) so they could put her on display; unclear if she went willingly under promise for money or was forced
Famous sketch of her exhibition: La Belle Hottentot
Had a large buttocks
Major controversy about whether she was enslaved (which was illegal) or not; Cesars claimed she was a “willing participant”
In 1814, appeared in France & again displayed there
Racist scientific examination of her genitalia
In death, a plaster cast was made of her body, her skeleton is on display, her genitals were cut out & preserved
Scientific racism followed in the era just after her death;