Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

by bell hooks

Book Overview

A classic work of feminist scholarship, Ain't I a Woman has become a must-read for all those interested in the nature of black womanhood. Examining the impact of sexism on black women during slavery,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089608129X
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: South End Press
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Love This!

This was, in my mind, more approachable than Feminism is for Everybody. I feel like I struggled less through this one, but still sometimes felt kind of stupid 😂 I appreciate this challenging of my own intelligence and views regarding racism within feminist movements.

Few books truly change your life

This one changed mine. I urge all young women of color to read this book while you are still in high school or college. Do that for yourself. I urge all other humans to read it as soon as you can. It's the seminal work of bell hooks career, which continues to enlighten and enrich all of us. Unlike some other "classic" works, it deserves the designation, for it remains as timely today as it was at publication.Her observations are wise. Her grasp of history is absolute. Her ideas stimulate intelligent and loving thought, conversation, and action. Read this book.

Here is where it all began

Those who would dismiss Hook's scholarship and arguments as substandard are truly threatened by the radical observations she makes about the world and black women's relationship to it and in it. The "Clif Notes" version Hooks has been maligned for by her critics have been practiced openly by white feminists (and predominantly white groups) so I honestly cannot see what the criticism is about unless it is the particular ideas themselves and not the way they are phrased. Hook's work is radical because it forces readers to deal with the less than favorable aspects of American history. Confronting the real truth about America and the way it has historically treated and maligned women of color (and how they moblized against this) can be a challenging read, but only if the reader comes in with a defensive mind, prepared to discount the work anyway. Individuals with an open mind should love the pages of this now-classic work. I have always loved this book and it's practical insights on gender roles and a multifaceted approach to reproductive rights. Although Hooks is pro-choice, she reminds us that legalized abortion should be only one aspect of reproductive rights, and freedom from sterilzation abuse and full information on contraceptives is also important. It is a testament to Hooks and other activists that this paradigm has been adopted by the general feminist movement. True women's liberation involves the liberation of all women from all artificially constructed notions about gender and ethnicity. While we as a nation have historically seen the civil rights movement as primarily for black men, and the feminist movement as being for white women, we have silenced and subjugated the black feminist who has one foot in each of these communities and is going to weave together her own experiences.

An effortless, informative and enjoyable read.

I read this book 6 years ago on holiday and I couldn't put it down. I tell you this just to let you know that although the subject matter may appear "heavy", hooks style of writing makes the most complicated theories and intellectual of thoughts on Womanism/Feminism easy to understand and entertaining. This a thought provoking read. For example her theory on the propagation of miscegenation ( the law that banned interracial marriage and our current negative attidudes towards this today) really made me think. Briefly, she theorised that as white men held the key to power the law was brought in not to protect white women from black men but to stop black women marrying white men. If say a black woman married the President she would also have access to power via her direct access and ability to influence the most powerful man in the world. hooks as a writer is brilliant, she's inspiring, informative and imaginative. Which must be quite difficult given the subject matter she deals with. Start with Aint I a Woman and you'll go onto read her whole library. Enjoy.

Powerful and absolutely brilliant

White males are of course the real reason that there has been racism within feminism. As bell hooks so courageously describes, white male eurocentric patriarchy has compromised white feminists, who have in turn eclipsed the brave work of so many Black feminists. As a white feminist, I am proud to be a reader of bell hooks. Such superb writing can only make me wonder why white males like Christopher Hitchens and John Leonard are filling up the pages of the Nation, when what we need are fabulously courageous voices like that of bell hooks.

Ain't I A Woman offers great insight into history...

Hooks' book gives the beginning student of African-American women's history a strong and solid foundation upon which to build their knowledge. The book's contents bring to light many historical details that have been left out of American history courses but their effects are still present in our society. Hooks establishes the historical reason for the rift between White feminist and Black women, and does so without blame.