Angela Davis Women Race And Class Summary

Third wave feminism has gained a lot of momentum these past couple years, yet despite its progress the movement is still currently lacking the practice of intersectionality. Essentially, practicing intersectionality within the feminist movement means examining how women of different backgrounds experience oppression and then prioritizing the most oppressed groups of people. Due to fact that the mainstream feminist movement fails to exercise intersectionality, black women around the country are continuing to join together to form exclusive black feminist groups as they had in the past because they feel as though they aren't getting the attention they need. A often overlooked issue relating to this can be connected back to how school curriculums

fail to teach about black women's contributions in the feminist movement, as well as discuss their current struggles within our society. This raises questions as to whether all states should require its schools to include the history of the black feminist movement in their curriculum. If the younger generation were to learn about the history of black women’s position in society rather than just the white women’s, they would see the need for the practice of intersectionality within our current movement. That being said, I believe states should require all schools to educate their students about black feminism because it could substantially progress the feminist movement in the future through an awareness of intersectionality.
    In an article written by Angela Davis, titled “Women, Race, and Class: An Activist Perspective”, she focuses on the lack of representation black women have in the media and in our society in general.

The article begins with Davis recognizing a few of the women who were fighting for black rights as well as women’s rights between 1960’s to 1980’s, such as Julia Wilder, Maggie Bozeman. She shares their stories and then concludes with  how their sacrifices to the movement were left unnoticed by our predominantly white patriarchal society. Although her delivery was bold, she clarifies her message by stating “I am mentioning these women not for the purpose of criticizing anyone, but in order to point out the big gaps in the information that is available to us and some of the problems that we have to overcome if we are going to be able to establish the most effective women's  movement and the most effective approach to women's studies” (Davis 34). With that statement she wanted to explain her intent was not to judge anyone for not knowing who the black feminists were or their contributions,but that she simply just gives an example of the “gaps in the information” that we have given to us. Although this article was written in 1982, the issues Davis presented are still prominent in our nation today. The achievements and struggles of many black feminists are still lost in history and these women have yet to get the recognition they

deserve.
    Relating to the quote I took from Davis’s article, the black feminists who played an important role in the feminist movement are still not being acknowledged to this day.

In schools all around the country, students are required to take some sort of American history class. There are almost always sections in these classes that teach about the black civil rights movement, as well as the women's rights movement. Textbooks used in the courses commonly speak about public figures such as Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott, or about Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther king Jr, all popularly known as influential black rights and women’s rights activists. While they do include women who are fighting for equality, as well as African Americans protest for the end of slavery, segregation, and racism, black women tend to be left out of the conversation. Often, there is no representation of any of the black women who fought for the feminist movement, rather the texts only include stories of white, middle class women. In general our society rarely mentions the contributions of these black feminists and focuses solely on the white feminists involvement. It is important to include all sides of the story when teaching the younger generation, that way there are no biased opinions and students can get a clear truthful understanding about the history of the women's rights

movements
The idea of requiring schools to teach about the history of black feminism can be quite controversial for many reasons. One reason being how education systems argue that they don't have room within in the schools curriculum to add new material. Additionally, since I am proposing we require all schools to include black feminism within their curriculum, one would think it would be impossible to squeeze this into a class that's already full. Instead I have a simple solution to this problem, cut something else out. Objectors could argue that all the material they cover within class is more important than the black feminist movement, and therefore they will not cut anything. While I agree that they are important topics, I do not agree that they are more important. Black american women are the most disadvantaged group in our society to this day and that is why they should be our main priority within the feminist movement, as well as within our education systems. Educating students about the history behind the  black feminist movement would spread awareness as to how black womens needs were neglected in the past as well as how the current lack of representation of black women is an intersectional issue within our society today.
    One of the other controversies regarding this issue would be the fact that not all parents are going to welcome this change with open arms. Some parents could argue that we shouldn’t be teaching our children about black feminists because they aren't focusing on ending the oppression of all women and are rather excluding all racial groups that aren’t black. In other words, objecters could argue that teaching children to think it is a good thing to exclude others is wrong, and therefore the topic of black feminists and their role in the feminist movement throughout history should be left out of school curriculums. While it is understandable for parents to be questionable and concerned, this reasoning seems contradictory. It doesn't make sense to argue for the exclusion of black feminist history because it would exclude other racial groups. These objectors are essentially saying that it is not okay to exclude the white feminists, but it is okay to leave out the black woman's side of the story. This type of thinking is a perfect representation as to how black women issues are continuously set aside because men, and white women's issues are the main priority in our society.
In Statement titled “The Combahee River Collective Statement” that was written by a collective of black feminists, they defend their organizations by saying “It is apparent that no other ostensibly progressive movement has ever considered our specific oppression as a priority or worked out seriously for the ending of oppression” (Combahee River Collective). This quote summarizes the reasons black women felt the need to separate from the larger feminist movement, also commonly referred to as the white feminist movement. These Black women that were apart of the Combahee River Collective continuously faced oppression throughout their lives, and they made it very clear that they did not feel any support from any other movements, and therefore had to take matters into their own hands. They believed that in order to truly achieve liberation for all black women, branching out from other feminist groups was a necessity. Groups such as the CRC and other like it throughout history did not focus on ending the oppression of all women for the primary reason that in order to achieve equality for everyone they must first start with the most oppressed group, black women. The notion that black feminists want to exclude other men and women is not the intent of such groups. It is simply the practice of intersectionality within their movement that leads them to focus primarily on black women’s issues. This is why teaching the history of black feminists and the need for intersectionality within feminism should be required in schools around the country, so that the next generation would see the need to help the most disadvantaged people first.
    If we were to close the gaps and educate everyone about all aspects of the feminist movement throughout history, meaning including the sacrifices black women made for the women’s and black rights in our discussions, the feminist movement in the united states today may be very different. While women around the nation are fighting for the rights of everyone, the movement isn't truly as inclusive as it should be. Davis herself expressed that we must acknowledge and overcome the gaps in our education, as well as face the problems with black women not having a voice in past and current civil rights movements in order to progress the future feminist movement. To do this we must first end the oppression against the most oppressed groups in society. When we teach the younger generation within the classroom only about the white women’s movement, and not about the black women's influence, the feminist movement will stay at a standstill. If we were to start educating students in grades 6-12 about the history of the black feminist movement, and the existing issues within our country today regarding the oppression of all women, especially women of color, we could change the course of the feminist movement. Intersectionality is the key to the progression of the feminist movement, and we must start with educating the younger generation about such practices if we are to continue our fight for equality.