Toward a Black feminist criticism
The souls of Black women
Sexual politics and the fiction of Zora Neale Hurston
Naming the unnameable : the poetry of Pat Parker
The truth that never hurts : Black lesbians in fiction in the
1980s
We must always bury our dead twice : a tribute to James Baldwin
African American lesbian and gay history : an exploration
Racism and women's studies
The tip of the iceberg
The Rodney King verdict
Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around : reflections on the
Hill-Thomas hearings
Homophobia : why bring it up?
The NEA is the least of it
Blacks and gays : healing the great divide
Between a rock and a hard place : relationships between Black and
Jewish women
Chicago firsthand : a distortion of reality
Working for liberation and having a damn good time
Doing it from scratch : the challenge of Black lesbian
organizing
Where's the revolution?
Where's the revolution? Part II
A rose
Barbara Smith is co-founder and publisher of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She has edited three major collections about Black women, including Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology (Rutgers University Press), and is co-editor with Wilma Mankiller, Gwendolyn Mink, Marysa Navarro, and Gloria Steinem of The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History.
A feminist writer and theorist of some repute, Smith founded
Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press with the late "black lesbian
mother warrior feminist poet" Audre Lorde, and was the first woman
of color appointed to the Modern Language Association's Commission
on the Status of Women in the Profession. Her seminal 1977 essay
"Toward a Black Feminist Criticism," which puts forth the notion
that a "Black women's literary tradition" not only exists, but
thrives, fittingly opens this collection of newer and older, still
vibrant works, most previously published in often hard-to-find
journals or anthologies. Noting that "it is unnerving to imagine"
what kind of writing she might have produced had she not come out,
Smith registers obstacles to her current work on a wide-ranging
history of black lesbians and gays in America, citing a recent
two-volume encyclopedia (Darlene Clark Hine's Black Women in
America) in which there are only six entries under "Lesbian." In
the final essay of the collection, "A Rose," Smith recalls her
friend, the late Lucretia "Lu" Medina Diggs, and mourns the loss of
her and Lorde, stressing that she will not be deterred from her
fight for political awareness and compassion. Smith's writing
frequently reaches strident polemicist peaks, but, just as
frequently, stretches of sublime prose translate her crystalline
intellect to the page, exciting both mind and senses.
*Publishers Weekly*
A provocative collection of impassioned essays written from a
radical, gay, African-American, feminist perspective. Smith,
co-founder and publisher of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press,
has been publishing literary and social criticism for over 20
years. As a literary critic, she chastises the academic
establishment for often misinterpreting and largely disregarding
the voices of black womengay black women in particular. In one of
her most influential essays, ``Toward a Black Feminist Criticism,''
written in 1977, Smith, contending that ``black women writers
constitute an identifiable literary tradition,'' pleads for a black
feminist approach toward examining literature. Only the black
feminist critic, she argues, is fully able to comprehend the
nuances of work by black women, such as the depth of Sula and Nells
relationship in Toni Morrisons novel Sula. Smith is also critical
of nonlesbians addressing the black lesbian experience. In ``The
Truth that Never Hurts,'' published in the late '80s, she argues
that positive depictions of black lesbians are sorely lacking and
that ``far too many non-lesbian black women who are actively
involved in defining the African-American womens literary
renaissance . . . completely ignore black lesbian existence or are
actively hostile to it.'' Smiths equally fervent social and
political writings are informed by a Marxist viewpoint. She argues,
sometimes unpersuasively, that heterosexism and sexism can wither
only when capitalism is destroyed. Shes especially concerned about
the lack of role models for gay black youth; and she takes to task
her gay brothers and sisters who have chosen to stay closeted
because they are ``more concerned with their individual security
and careers than they are with building community and working for
radical political change.'' This manifesto is always challenging
and often convincing.
*Kirkus Reviews*
Barbara Smith is visionary, courageous, and insightful. Her work
provides a crucial challenge to all of us.
*Cornel West*
At every moment of serious political crisisùand no thinking person
can argue that ours is not such a momentùcertain writers step
forward with words that seem to ring from the very heart of
history. Barbara Smith is certainly one of these writers, and her
new book, electrifying, thought-provoking, illuminating, eloquent,
harsh, and funny, is essential reading. Whether you agree with
everything she says is not important; the essays in this book will
revivify your heart and mind and reawaken a passion for activism
and for justice.
*Tony Kushner*
In these essays, Smith, an independent scholar and editor, explores
several explosive issues, among them sexual politics, racism and
women's studies, and homophobia.
*Library Journal*
The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom
provides a universal message about struggle, resistance, and
freedom, grounded within a black Lesbian feminist critique of
AmericaÆs culture and politics. The cogently written essays
represent a cross-section of SmithÆs work over the past twenty
years and the first book dedicated exclusively to her own writing.
Focusing on race, feminism, and the politics of sexuality, Smith
provides an alternative lens to view the world by making
connections between systems of oppression and offering suggestions
for social change.
*Washington Blade*
Barbara Smith's uncompromising intelligence helped invent the
politics of intersection which grounds progressive thinking today.
These essays deliver trenchant analysis from one of the most
original, astute, and practical thinkers in the gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender movement.
*director of The Policy Institute, National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force*
As a black lesbian feminist activist and scholar, Smith is a highly
respected voice of conscience who speaks discomforting but
necessary truths about the interlocking nature of oppressions
within American culture and institutions. These landmark essays . .
. show Smith challenging academic, political, and community
organizations to expand their missions in order to include persons
who have been perennially at the margins of our society. . . .
Recommended.
*MultiCultural Review*
Smith's book is an excellent example of powerful, introspective
writing that challenges readers to reexamine their stance on
complex issues concerning race and gender.
*Bloomsbury Review*
Smith has provided us with a collection of erudite and profoundly
moving writings [which are] smart, incisive, and instructive. There
is no stone that Smith has left unturned. From homophobia in the
black community to police brutality and including racism in the
womenÆs movement, black women and anti-Semitism . . . Barbara Smith
has explained the linkages between the multiplicity of oppressions
facing blacks in general and black lesbians in particular.
*Journal of Lesbian Studies*
The ancestors are surely ecstatic about the diligence, courage,
passion, and good humor exhibited in The Truth That Never Hurts.
This is a landmark work from a pioneering activist who has always
kept the faith.
*editor of The Black Women's Health Book*
Sobering in what it has to tell us, The Truth That Never Hurts
forces us to face those truths that disrupt the placid surfaces of
our lives. A personal/political odyssey that documents some of the
most critical moments in the last three decades of our national
life, Smith's book forces us to new levels of awareness. Her
piercing eye and uncompromising search for human justice for all
make this volume must-reading for everyone who cares about the
future.
*co-editor of The Norton Anthology of African American
Literature*
A feminist writer and theorist of some repute, Smith founded
Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press with the late "black lesbian
mother warrior feminist poet" Audre Lorde, and was the first woman
of color appointed to the Modern Language Association's Commission
on the Status of Women in the Profession. Her seminal 1977 essay
"Toward a Black Feminist Criticism," which puts forth the notion
that a "Black women's literary tradition" not only exists, but
thrives, fittingly opens this collection of newer and older, still
vibrant works, most previously published in often hard-to-find
journals or anthologies. Noting that "it is unnerving to imagine"
what kind of writing she might have produced had she not come out,
Smith registers obstacles to her current work on a wide-ranging
history of black lesbians and gays in America, citing a recent
two-volume encyclopedia (Darlene Clark Hine's Black Women in
America) in which there are only six entries under "Lesbian." In
the final essay of the collection, "A Rose," Smith recalls her
friend, the late Lucretia "Lu" Medina Diggs, and mourns the loss of
her and Lorde, stressing that she will not be deterred from her
fight for political awareness and compassion. Smith's writing
frequently reaches strident polemicist peaks, but, just as
frequently, stretches of sublime prose translate her crystalline
intellect to the page, exciting both mind and senses.
*Publishers Weekly*
Barbara Smith is visionary, courageous, and insightful. Her work
provides a crucial challenge to all of us.
*Cornel West*
A provocative collection of impassioned essays written from a
radical, gay, African-American, feminist perspective. Smith,
co-founder and publisher of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press,
has been publishing literary and social criticism for over 20
years. As a literary critic, she chastises the academic
establishment for often misinterpreting and largely disregarding
the voices of black womengay black women in particular. In one of
her most influential essays, ``Toward a Black Feminist Criticism,''
written in 1977, Smith, contending that ``black women writers
constitute an identifiable literary tradition,'' pleads for a black
feminist approach toward examining literature. Only the black
feminist critic, she argues, is fully able to comprehend the
nuances of work by black women, such as the depth of Sula and Nells
relationship in Toni Morrisons novel Sula. Smith is also critical
of nonlesbians addressing the black lesbian experience. In ``The
Truth that Never Hurts,'' published in the late '80s, she argues
that positive depictions of black lesbians are sorely lacking and
that ``far too many non-lesbian black women who are actively
involved in defining the African-American womens literary
renaissance . . . completely ignore black lesbian existence or are
actively hostile to it.'' Smiths equally fervent social and
political writings are informed by a Marxist viewpoint. She argues,
sometimes unpersuasively, that heterosexism and sexism can wither
only when capitalism is destroyed. Shes especially concerned about
the lack of role models for gay black youth; and she takes to task
her gay brothers and sisters who have chosen to stay closeted
because they are ``more concerned with their individual security
and careers than they are with building community and working for
radical political change.'' This manifesto is always challenging
and often convincing.
*Kirkus Reviews*
At every moment of serious political crisisùand no thinking person
can argue that ours is not such a momentùcertain writers step
forward with words that seem to ring from the very heart of
history. Barbara Smith is certainly one of these writers, and her
new book, electrifying, thought-provoking, illuminating, eloquent,
harsh, and funny, is essential reading. Whether you agree with
everything she says is not important; the essays in this book will
revivify your heart and mind and reawaken a passion for activism
and for justice.
*Tony Kushner*
In these essays, Smith, an independent scholar and editor, explores
several explosive issues, among them sexual politics, racism and
women's studies, and homophobia.
*Library Journal*
The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom
provides a universal message about struggle, resistance, and
freedom, grounded within a black Lesbian feminist critique of
AmericaÆs culture and politics. The cogently written essays
represent a cross-section of SmithÆs work over the past twenty
years and the first book dedicated exclusively to her own writing.
Focusing on race, feminism, and the politics of sexuality, Smith
provides an alternative lens to view the world by making
connections between systems of oppression and offering suggestions
for social change.
*Washington Blade*
Barbara Smith's uncompromising intelligence helped invent the
politics of intersection which grounds progressive thinking today.
These essays deliver trenchant analysis from one of the most
original, astute, and practical thinkers in the gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender movement.
*director of The Policy Institute, National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force*
As a black lesbian feminist activist and scholar, Smith is a highly
respected voice of conscience who speaks discomforting but
necessary truths about the interlocking nature of oppressions
within American culture and institutions. These landmark essays . .
. show Smith challenging academic, political, and community
organizations to expand their missions in order to include persons
who have been perennially at the margins of our society. . . .
Recommended.
*MultiCultural Review*
Smith's book is an excellent example of powerful, introspective
writing that challenges readers to reexamine their stance on
complex issues concerning race and gender.
*Bloomsbury Review*
Smith has provided us with a collection of erudite and profoundly
moving writings [which are] smart, incisive, and instructive. There
is no stone that Smith has left unturned. From homophobia in the
black community to police brutality and including racism in the
womenÆs movement, black women and anti-Semitism . . . Barbara Smith
has explained the linkages between the multiplicity of oppressions
facing blacks in general and black lesbians in particular.
*Journal of Lesbian Studies*
The ancestors are surely ecstatic about the diligence, courage,
passion, and good humor exhibited in The Truth That Never Hurts.
This is a landmark work from a pioneering activist who has always
kept the faith.
*editor of The Black Women's Health Book*
Sobering in what it has to tell us, The Truth That Never Hurts
forces us to face those truths that disrupt the placid surfaces of
our lives. A personal/political odyssey that documents some of the
most critical moments in the last three decades of our national
life, Smith's book forces us to new levels of awareness. Her
piercing eye and uncompromising search for human justice for all
make this volume must-reading for everyone who cares about the
future.
*co-editor of The Norton Anthology of African American Literature*
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