Summary Of The Major Tenents Of Black Feminism

To begin, I will explore the major tenents of Black feminism. I am beginning this paper by discussing the major tenents of Black feminism so that later in the paper when exploring the arguments of various Black feminist, connections can be made to the major tenents. The tenents are not being discussed in order of significance in Black feminism. With that, intersectionality is the first tenent of Black feminism I will discuss. Intersectionality centers Black feminism because Black feminists historically have been, and currently are, excluded from mainstream feminism and the anti-racism movement. In understanding the importance of having every marginalized voice heard, Black feminists always have an intersectional lenses on. Moving forward, the
Joan Morgan wrote the book When Chicken Heads Come Home to Roost, which explores hip-hop feminism. Morgan begins her piece by breaking down some of her struggles with feminism. The struggles originate from ingrained sexism and gender roles, and these are struggles that almost every feminist faces. Along with ingrained sexism and gender roles, there are simply personal preferences that people have which might include having the door help open for you. One of the main arguments in Morgan’s piece is that Black feminists should support hip-hop in spite of its misogynistic elements. The reason that Morgan argues for Black women to support hip-hop is that Morgan sees hip-hop as "instrumental in exposing black men's pain, [and] it brings the healing sistas need right to the surface" (2000: 77). Hip-hop exposes the sexist beliefs that some Black men have about Black women, and it exposes the fact that there are Black women that enforce those sexist beliefs that Black men have. Morgan argues that Black male rappers are not at fault when they are angry at Black women who are interested in them only for their money. Black men do not create these images of Black women from thin air, but from their lived experiences. As a Black feminist, Morgan is arguing that we must listen to Black men's expression of their experiences because they are valid experiences and Black men are experts on their experiences. There is another very compelling reason Morgan argues that Black feminists should support hip-hop, and that is that "black-on-black love-a love that has survived slavery, lynching, segregation, poverty, and racism- is in serious danger" (2000:71). It is in the favor or oppressors that marginalized groups be separated and pinned against each other, and Morgan is trying to combat the separation that is being occurring in the Black community. For example, there are Black artists like Nicki Minaj who are also trying to combat