Description
Book SynopsisFrom Rosa Parks and Esther Cooper Jackson, to Shirley Graham DuBois and Assata Shakur, a host of women demonstrated a lifelong commitment to radical change, embracing multiple roles to sustain the black freedom struggle in America, founding numerous groups and mentoring younger activists. This title profiles the stories of these women.
Trade ReviewAs the editors and contributors of this volume convincingly insist, we must reconsider what we think we know of civil rights, black power activism, and post-World War II feminism . . . Expansive and inclusive are the terms that best describe this collection. -- Katherine Mellon Charron * Journal of American History *
This book is an important intervention in the historiography of US Black movements, strongly asserting the centrality of women in a broad range of Black liberation struggles. -- Rachel Herzing * leftturn.org *
By centering radical black women,
Want to Start a Revolution? shatters the artificial boundaries separating civil rights, black power, and feminist ideologies and movements, generating an expanded history of black radicalism and conveying the centrality of African-American women to the black freedom struggle and social justice movements more broadly. This collection will undoubtedly inspire an outpouring of much-needed new scholarship, adding to our collective knowledge and offering new frameworks for grappling with this history. -- Emilye Crosby,author of A Little Taste of Freedom: The Black Freedom Struggle in Claiborne County, Mississippi
This noteworthy collection returns women activists to their place at the center of American radicalism. In the spirit of the radical women it profiles,
Want to Start a Revolution? promises to educate, invigorate, excite, and inspire. -- Anne M. Valk,author of Radical Sisters: Second-Wave Feminism and Black Liberation in Washington, D.C.
“Want to Start a Revolution? successfully meets its three goals of expanding the boundaries of black radicalism, shedding light on the labor women performed to sustain radical movements, and exploring the gender politics of black women activists (pp. 3-4). Collectively, the essays will provide activists, students, and academic specialists with powerful insights into post- World War II black feminist thought, and the lives of women who joined and guided movements to transform an oppressive society. This collection will also be useful to teachers aiming to introduce students to the politics of historical memory, and the recent distortions of civil rights discourse. We owe a debt of gratitude to the editors and contributors to this collection for reminding us that in the postwar struggle for revolutionary change, as now, women of color hold up more than half the sky. * H-Net Reviews *
“A new work offers a lively picture of two dozen different women organizers and how their contributions define our present and, possibly, our future... is among one of the best and freshest writings on women and movement-building in some time. * Political Media Review *
“In sum, this anthology will undoubtedly spark renewed interest in recovering the myriad of female activists whose stories have not yet been told... Highly recommended. * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Dayo F. Gore, Jeanne Theoharis, and Komozi Woodard 1 "No Small Amount of Change Could Do" Erik S. McDuffie 2 What "the Cause" Needs Is a "Brainy and Energetic Woman" Prudence Cumberbatch 3 From Communist Politics to Black Power Dayo F. Gore 4 Shirley Graham Du Bois Gerald Horne and Margaret Stevens 5 "A Life History of Being Rebellious" Jeanne Theoharis 6 Framing the Panther Joy Jamesvi Contents 7 Revolutionary Women, Revolutionary Education Ericka Huggins and Angela D. LeBlanc-Ernest 8 Must Revolution Be a Family Affair? Margo Natalie Crawford 9 Retraining the Heartworks James Smethurst 10 "Women's Liberation or ... Black Liberation, You're Fighting the Same Enemies" Sherie M. Randolph 11 To Make That Someday Come Joshua Guild 12 Denise Oliver and the Young Lords Party Johanna Fernandez 13 Grassroots Leadership and Afro-Asian Solidarities Diane C. Fujino 14 "We Do Whatever Becomes Necessary" Premilla Nadasen About the Contributors Index
