New Book! African Americans Doing Feminism

African Americans Doing Feminism

Putting Theory into Everyday Practice

edited by Aaronette White

African American women and men share their stories of how feminism has influenced their daily lives.

How might ordinary people apply feminist principles to everyday situations? How do feminist ideas affect the daily behaviors and decisions of those who seek to live out the basic idea that women are as fully human as men? This collection of essays uses concrete examples to illuminate the ways in which African Americans practice feminism on a day-to-day basis. Demonstrating real-life situations of feminism in action, each essay tackles an issue—such as personal finances, parenting, sexual harassment, reproductive freedom, incest, depression and addiction, or romantic relationships—and articulates a feminist approach to engaging with the problem or concern. Contributors include African American scholars, artists, activists, and business professionals who offer personal accounts of how they encountered feminist ideas and are using them now as a guide to living. The essays reveal how feminist principles affect people’s perceptions of their ability to change themselves and society, because the personal is not always self-evidently political.

“The topic of thinking about feminism and feminist theory as functional is very important: students often want to know more about how they can put feminist thinking and politics into action. Having concrete, lived examples of how various people have done so is a real contribution to the field.” — Vivian M. May, author of Anna Julia Cooper, Visionary Black Feminist: A Critical Introduction

Aaronette M.White is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of California Santa Cruz. She is the author of Ain’t I a Feminist? African American Men Speak Out on Fatherhood, Friendship, Forgiveness, and Freedom, also published by SUNY Press.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: African American Feminist Practices

Aaronette M. White

Part I: Family Values

1. Mother Work: A Stay-at-Home Mom Advocates for Breastfeeding

Angela M. W. Thanyachareon

2. Bringing Up Daddy: A Black Feminist Fatherhood

Mark Anthony Neal

3. Tubes Tied, Child-Free by Choice

Aaronette M. White

Part II: Community Building

4. ¡Ola, Hermano! A Black Latino Feminist Organizes Men

Omar Freilla

5. “Sister Outsiders”: How the Students and I Came Out

Mary Anne Adams

6. Feminist Compassion: A Gay Man Loving Black Women

Todd C. Shaw

7. Gay, Gray, and a Place to Stay: Living It Up and Out in an RV

Aaronette M. White and Vera C. Martin

Part III: Romantic Partnerships

8. The Second Time Around: Marriage, Black Feminist Style

Pearl Cleage

9. “Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone”: Why the Feminist I Loved Left Me

William Dotson

10. When the Hand That Slaps Is Female: Fighting Addiction

Dorothy M.

Part IV: Healing Practices

11. Resistance as Recovery: Winning a Sexual Harassment Complaint

Carolyn M. West

12. Learning to Love the Little Black Boy in Me: Breaking Family Silences, Ending Shame

Gary L. Lemons

13. I Took Back My Dignity: Surviving and Thriving after Incest

Carolyn E. Gross

14. Diving Deep and Surfacing: How I Healed from Depression

Vanessa Jackson

Part V: Career Dilemmas

15. Mary, Don’t You Weep: A Feminist Nun’s Vocation

Sister Sojourner Truth

16. Becoming an Entrepreneur

Deloise (Dee) A. Frisque

17. Light on a Dark Path: Self-Discovery among White Women

Marian Cannon Dornell

18. The Accidental Advocate: Life Coaching as a Feminist Vocation

Anitra L. Nevels

List of Contributors

Index