Living at the Margins: Black Feminist Pedagogy as Transformative Praxis During the 1980s-1990s and Epistemic Exclusion in the 21st Century—Where Do We Go Now?

In this essay I argue that Black women who teach Black feminist pedagogy experience “epistemic exclusion” (Buchanan, 2020) while advocating for the intersections between three disparate contexts: their activism in their communities, the women’s movement, and their work as educators in postsecondary settings. The period examined is the 1980s–1990s. I consider the institutional challenges and limitations Black women have undergone as knowledge producers and teachers. While pushing the boundaries erected between university settings and the Black liberation movement taking place in their communities (Joseph, 2003), they were limited to a precarious status as Black women teaching within White-male dominated institutions. The trailblazing theoretical pedagogical insights Black feminists have advanced in their work as educators in postsecondary settings is discussed at length. Additionally, connections are made to the present-day struggle among Black feminists for inclusion within contemporary educational contexts (Evans-Winters & Piest, 2014; Mogadime, 2002, 2003; Wane, 2009, 2011).

“The Shape of the Wrath to Come”

This article traces the evolution of James Baldwin’s discourse on the Arab–Israeli conflict as connected to his own evolution as a Black thinker, activist, and author. It creates a nuanced trajectory of the transformation of Baldwin’s thought on the Arab–Israeli conflict and Black and Jewish relations in the U.S. This trajectory is created through the lens of Baldwin’s relationship with some of the major radical Black movements and organizations of the twentieth century: Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, and, finally, the Black Power movement, especially the Black Panther Party. Using Baldwin as an example, the article displays the Arab–Israeli conflict as a terrain Black radicals used to articulate their visions of the nature of Black oppression in the U.S., strategies of resistance, the meaning of Black liberation, and articulations of Black identity. It argues that the study of Baldwin’s transformation from a supporter of the Zionist project of nation-building to an advocate of Palestinian rights and national aspirations reveals much about the ideological transformations of the larger Black liberation movement.

Angela Davis in Cuba as Symbol and Subject

This essay examines how gender facilitated the encounters between Angela Y. Davis and the Cuban Revolution in the late 1960s and 1970s. Davis’s multifaceted identity as a black woman and communist shaped both her representation and reception in Cuba. Cubans supported Davis by participating in the global campaign for her freedom and welcoming her to the island several times, often with delegations from the Communist Party, beginning in 1969. The Cuban state propagated an iconography of Davis that cast her as a global signifier for both repression and international solidarity. Furthermore, at a transitional moment when Cuban leadership advocated institutionalization of the revolution, the Federation of Cuban Women provided highly visible opportunities for Davis to speak and be seen not afforded to men in the black liberation movement. Davis’s time in Cuba proved transformative and foundational in shaping her view of global liberation.

King and the Other America

Did the Civil rights movement of the Fifties and Sixties fail to address economic issues and to grasp that class, beyond just race, was the main cleavage and the greater hindrance in American Society? Many historians and social scientists contend that the movement too narrowly circumscribed its mission, deceptively assuming that specific race-based demands were the only way to achieve social equality and racial fairness. This book argues that, despite an inability to hamper a growing class divide, significant members of the Black Liberation movement actually intertwined civil rights to economic issues, some of them defending that class was trumping race when it comes to racial equality. Time has come, they argued, to build an interracial coalition which would bring substantive freedom to the lesser-off of America, Blacks being at rock bottom. This book will demonstrate that Martin Luther King Jr. was profoundly shaped by their conviction that racial equality was embedded in the broader class struggle, as illustrated by the forgotten Poor People’s Campaign of 1968. Although carried out postumously, the Poor People’s campaign, presented as much an interracial mass mobilization demanding redistribution as the culmination of King’s comprehension of the entanglement of class and race. It also dovetailed with compelling academic works which, either preceding or following the campaign, have vindicated its framework.

Vanguard

Richardson’s influence on the development of Black Power through ACT, an organization she cofounded with other radical activists in 1964, is the focus of this chapter. ACT’s goal was to provide aid and comfort to northern urban freedom campaigns, much as SNCC had done for local movements in the South. The chapter also analyzes ACT’s effect on the black liberation movement, particularly how it fostered the rise of militancy among younger activists who challenged moderates’ power to determine the civil rights movement’s goals, strategies, and tactics. Also covered is Richardson’s personal and working relationship with Malcolm X, who served as a consultant to ACT and was influenced by Richardson, as evidenced by his “ballot or bullet” speeches. Finally, the chapter discusses Richardson’s reasons for ending her active participation in the black liberation movement.

Victim Blaming in Twitter Users’ Framing of Eric Garner and Michael Brown

Using a critical race lens, this analysis extends the victim-blaming literature to examine representations of Black males killed by White police officers. Specifically, it explores tweets that emerged following the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in 2014. Study findings indicate Twitter users often used victim-blaming discourse to present the incidents of violence against Black men as isolated cases of punishment they deserved instead of the manifestations of larger social problems and systematic injustices. Common victim-blaming themes used to frame the two men were criminal actions/culpability, physical features, and race and class characteristics. A counter narrative toward justice and policy change later emerged, and the two men’s deaths became a catalyst for change. Notably, the #BlackLivesMatter campaign became an impetus to help foster growth in the Black liberation movement.

Structural Racism and the Will to Act

In only a few short years, Black Lives Matter has shaped mainstream discourse of racial inequality so as to emphasize the disparate ways our society tends to value certain lives and contributions over others. In this essay, I describe how today's Black liberation movement inspired me to revise a graduate course on race and conflict that directs students to think about how contemporary institutions and social practices determine the value of life at the color line. In the epilogue, I ponder another round of revisions given the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.