Black queer feminists Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Black queer feminists - Research Paper Example The purpose of this essay is to explore the black queer feminist movements to highlight the struggle that women of color have when identifying with queerness. It will become evident that, though the situation is becoming easier with time, it is only through the actions of outstanding individuals that this improvement is possible and there is still a long way to go before black queer feminists are seen favorably in society. The Combahee River Collective is an organization active in Boston in the 1970s, comprising of black feminist lesbians, who developed the Combahee River Collective Statement. This statement was influential in defining and discussing black feminism and the concept of identity (Johnson & Henderson, 1996), and has had a huge impact on the work of a number of social theorists. The Combahee River Collective Statement suggests that black feminists may have problems defining an identity because the notions of â€Å"black†, â€Å"lesbian† and â€Å"feminist† are so often seen as being at odds with each other (Harris, 1996). This notion is common amongst a lot of black feminist literature and highlights part of the struggle that those identifying with all three labels may face. The statement suggests that ‘Feminism is...very threatening to the majority of Black people because it calls into question some of the most basic assumptions about our existence’ (Comb ahee River Collective, 1982), again highlighting that there may be problems with being both black and identifying as a feminist, and there is a need to correlate the two identities. Audre Lorde was an African-American lesbian feminist active in the 20th century. Her work included a huge amount of poetry, as well as articles and feminist critiques (Hammonds, 2004). Lorde was critical of the feminist movement of the 1960s because she felt that it was aimed at