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The Worlds of Ntozake ShangeAND DIGITAL STORYTELLING

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The Costs of Liberation

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

Barbara Smith, Black Feminist institution builder

As we have been talking abut the labor of printing and digital expression vis-a-vis the Adair/Nakamura essay, I thought it pertinent to point your attention to the activism around creating a retirement fund for black feminist Barbara Smith, who was a co:founder both of The Combahee River Collective AND Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.

This is not a fundraising post, but a reminder that influence and even fame don’t always put food on the table and that caring for the elders who uplifted us is also feminist/activist practice. Very successful feminists like Ntozake needed a circle of care and support as they got older and unpaid /invisible labor isn’t just theory!

Archives and Feminism

by Kim Hall 0 Comments
feminism is the political theory and practice to free all women: women of color, working-class women, poor women, physically challenged women, lesbians, old women, as well as white economically privileged heterosexual women. Anything less than this is not feminism, but merely female self-aggrandizement.
— Barbara Smith (1979), qtd in Becky Thompson, “Multiracial Feminism”
In fact, during the 1970s, women of color were involved on three fronts-working with white- dominated feminist groups; forming women’s caucuses in existing mixed-gender organizations; and developing autonomous Black, Latina, Native American, and Asian feminist organizations.
–Becky Thompson, “Multiracial Feminism”
Phat Mama magazine cover art

Phat Mama magazine cover art

Thanks so much to  Jennell, Laura and Makaria for last week’s lively discussion!  Although Jennell had her own archival adventure at a street fair, we will begin our collective archival journey today.  We are visiting The Ntozake Shange Collection ON HER BIRTHDAY!!!!  (Don’t forget that we are meeting in the new archive space in Milstein–directions below).  In addition to Barnard librarians and archivists, Shannon O’Neill and Vani Natarajan, we will hear from Steven Fullwood,