All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave (1982) is a landmark feminist anthology in Black women's studies, co-edited by Akasha Gloria Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, and Barbara Smith. It was the first comprehensive collection of Black feminist scholarship and a foundational text of contemporary feminism.
Publication Details
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Editors | Akasha Gloria Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, Barbara Smith |
| Publisher | Feminist Press (Old Westbury, New York) |
| Publication Date | 1982 |
| Pages | 401 |
| ISBN | 0912670959 |
| Awards | National Institute's Women of Color Award |
Context
The anthology emerged from the rise of Black feminism in the 1970s, alongside writings by Mary Helen Washington, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and others. It was published the year after This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981), edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa. Both anthologies emphasized the intersection of race and gender, arguing that previous waves of feminism had focused primarily on issues relevant to white women, and that Black studies had focused primarily on Black men. The editors and contributors sought to carve out a significant intellectual and political space for women of color.
Title Meaning
The title encapsulates the central critique of the anthology: that mainstream feminist discourse treated "women" as synonymous with white women, while antiracist discourse treated "Blacks" as synonymous with Black men. Black women, therefore, were rendered invisible in both movements. The phrase "But Some of Us Are Brave" asserts the presence, agency, and intellectual contributions of Black women despite this double marginalization.
Impact and Legacy
The anthology has had a profound and lasting influence on feminist theory and Black studies:
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Intersectionality: Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw cited But Some of Us Are Brave at the beginning of her seminal 1989 paper, "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics," in which she introduced the concept of intersectionality. Crenshaw described the book as one of the "very few Black women's studies books" and used its title as her "point of departure" to develop a Black feminist criticism.
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Political Mobilization: In the 2000 reprint, the editors described how Black feminists organized "African American Women in Defense of Ourselves" in 1992—a national response to the controversy surrounding Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court nomination and Anita Hill's allegations of sexual harassment.
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Scholarly Influence: Barbara Y. Welke's 1995 article "When All the Women Were White, and All the Blacks Were Men: Gender, Class, Race, and the Road to Plessy, 1855–1914" directly referenced the anthology's title.
Notable Contributors
The anthology features writings from numerous scholars, activists, and writers, including:
- Alice Walker
- The Combahee River Collective
- Mary Frances Berry
- Michele Wallace
- Mary Helen Washington
- Jacquelyn Grant
- Barbara Smith
- Beverly Smith
- And many others
Related Works
- This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981), edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa
- Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology
- Daughters of Africa
References
Hull, Akasha Gloria; Bell-Scott, Patricia; Smith, Barbara, eds. (1982). All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies. Old Westbury, New York: Feminist Press. ISBN 0912670959.
